


Bye-Bye Junior High

by FixitDWF



Category: Degrassi, Degrassi High, Degrassi Junior High
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-27
Updated: 2018-10-29
Packaged: 2018-11-05 16:02:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 45,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11016765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FixitDWF/pseuds/FixitDWF
Summary: This is my take on Degrassi Junior High's final episode, Bye-Bye Junior High...it's the end of the school year as Joey, Wheels and Spike worry about passing their year, also the school's boiler system has taken a turn for the worst with nuisance false alarms and other serious issues which are giving poor Louella and her crew a massive headache.





	1. Exam Time

To say that Caitlin Ryan was once again extremely furious at Joey Jeremiah probably would have been the most biggest understatement of the year as she began making her way towards the entrance of Degrassi Junior High School, an old rustic brick building situated in a quiet Toronto suburb on Degrassi Street.

Once again, he stood her up at Lucy Fernandez’s party Friday night.

A party that she, along with her two other friends, Melanie and Kathleen weren’t exactly ‘welcomed’ into with open arms as most of the guests there were strictly ninth graders only.

When they had mentioned that Snake and Joey invited them, Lucy let them in, informing them that the boys would be a bit late on arrival due to the fact they were in the process of getting beer for the party.

“This is not like _our_ parties” asserted Kathleen as she headed towards the stairwell to sit down.

Caitlin and Melanie followed suit, waiting patiently for the boys to arrive.

Throughout the night, they remained there on the stairwell talking among themselves since nobody else acknowledged their presence, wondering out loud where Joey and Snake were and what could possibly be taking them so long to arrive as Ten O’clock rolled around.

Little did they know through, the party would soon come to a screeching halt as the phone began to ring off the hook.

Amy Holmes, one of the ninth graders in attendance took notice and immediately signalled to Lucy who quickly turned off the music and ordered everyone to be quiet before removing one of her ear rings to answer it.

“Hello? Oh, hi Mom. Oh........studying. You’re still at the airport? But it’s only 10:00. Your flight was cancelled.”

Upon saying that, many of the guests looked at one another in shock.

“Alright....see you soon. Bye.” Lucy said as she hung up the phone. “Guys, my parents will be home in half an hour. Everyone clean up!”

Just to be polite to the host, Caitlin, Kathleen and Melanie stuck around to help with the clean up, even through they didn’t feel very welcome at that point before getting their jackets on and headed back for home.

“Well, that was a very exciting party......I could have just stayed at home and studied instead!” Kathleen muttered sarcastically as they began walking down the street.

“Don’t say I never do anything for you Kathleen!” sighed Melanie. “I wonder what had happened to Snake, Joey and Wheels through?”

“Didn’t Lucy say they were in the process of getting beer? Isn’t that illegal? Maybe they got caught!”

“Kathleen!” Caitlin muttered under her breath. “Let’s not jump to conclusions here.”

The next day, Caitlin found out what had happened to the guys and why they were a no show at Lucy’s through Melanie, who had called her shortly after getting off the phone with Snake.

Turns out Kathleen had been right as they had been caught drinking in public and were brought to the police station.

Thankfully, no charges had been made for either public intoxication or drinking underage, but they did however get off with a warning through.

As Caitlin neared the main doors, she heard her name being called out.

“Caitlin, wait up.....”

It was Joey.

Instead of waiting for him like he wanted, she ignored him and headed into the building, not really in the mood to speak to him.

Joey however quickened his pace to catch up to her none the less, desperate to explain what had happened from his point of view.

“Caitlin....can I at least explain what happened? I didn’t mean to stand you up this time, really. Are we still going to the dance at least?”

“No.” Caitlin replied rather curtly as she finally reached her locker to put her bag and jacket away before storming into Mr. Raditch’s class.

“Come on Caitlin....I want to go to the graduation dance with you.”

“Why, so you can stand me up again like you did Friday night at Lucy’s party?”

“It wasn’t my fault. I wanted to go to Lucy’s party but....the cops took us to the police station, they called our parents. There was nothing I could do.”

“You shouldn’t have bought beer, let alone drink it in public! You know you’re underage, Joey!”

“That was a mistake.” Joey sighed.

“It’s always a mistake! I’m getting real sick and tired of being stood up all the time.”

Before Joey could get another word out, Mr. Raditch came in with a stack full of papers in his arms.  
“Greetings inspiring scholars. Welcome to your last exam of grade eight.” he greeted as he began going down the aisles handing out the papers. “Please keep the papers face down until I can tell you to begin, write your name on the upper right hand corner......”

Suddenly the fire alarm began to sound, causing the classroom to moan in annoyance.

“This is the sixth time this week!” Arthur announced with frustration.

“No way guys, it’s just another false alarm!” said Kathleen.

“Quiet please. Quiet. It could be a real fire this time....leave everything on your desk and exit the building quietly!” Mr. Raditch addressed as he quickly picked up the papers he had already distributed.

As the class began to evacuate, Joey saw this as another opportunity to convince Caitlin to go to the graduation dance with him.

“Come on, Caitlin. It’s the graduation dance. I want to go with you. Don’t you like me?”

Caitlin thought about it for a bit....

“Caitlin, Joey....now is not the time to be socializing. We have an emergency here, let’s go!” Mr. Raditch warned as he waited patiently by the classroom door.

“OK....”

“OK to Mr. Raditch’s warning or OK as in....?”

“OK as in going to the dance. But if anything goes wrong Joey,”

“Nothing will go wrong Caitlin, I promise. It’ll be perfect! Trust me.” Joey replied as they finally headed out the door. “YES!”

“I said quietly, Joey.....”

“Sorry Mr. Raditch, sheesh. Yes!”

“Joey, what did I just say about being quiet?”

“Look, I bet this is just another false alarm. Listen, Mr. Lawrence will come onto the PA system to address the situation right......about.......NOW!”

“ _May I have your_ _a_ _ttention please,_ _may I have your attention please_ _.....the proceeding is definitely a false alarm. Please return to your_ _class_ _rooms_ _immediately._ _That is all.”_ Mr. Lawrence announced, sounding very annoyed.

“See? I told ya!”

Mr. Raditch just rolled his eyes as Joey began making his way back towards the classroom along with the rest of his classmates.

* * *

 

In Mr. Garcia’s class, the ninth graders were getting ready to start their exam as Mr. Garcia went around distributing the papers and explaining the rules.

“You only have one hour to complete the exam. There will be no talking....no gum chewing allowed. Mr. Thomas, could you be so kind as to spitting that out in the trash bin, please and thank you.” Mr. Garcia exclaimed as he checked his watch. “And you may now begin.”

On cue, all the students turned their sheets over, reading over the questions and jotting down what they hoped would be the right answers.

While many breezed through the pages, some struggled to comprehend the questions, shaking and scratching their heads in confusion.

Derek Wheeler was one of those students.

At the beginning of the school year, he was met with an unfortunate tragedy as he had lost not one, but both his parents in a severe car accident brought on by an intoxicated driver while they were making their way home from the movies.

Derek could have been with them as well that night, but instead changed his mind on going in favour of sneaking off to Joey’s just to finish recording their demo tape of their one and only song, ‘Everybody Wants Something’.

In a way, it was both a blessing and a curse all wrapped up into one but often times it felt more like a curse than an actual blessing.

As months went on after the death of his parents, Derek began distancing himself from his friends, including Joey and became rather hostile towards his Grandmother, social worker and fellow teachers when he was more less forced to attend school, making his behavioural record extremely poor to the point where it could jeopardize his chances of heading off into tenth grade next year.

He sat there staring at the sheet of paper in front of him, completely unsure of what to write as his mind was totally blank.

‘I am so screwed......’ he thought to himself as he tried to answer the questions the best he could.

He only managed to answer three questions before looking up at his fellow classmates who were simply skimming through the pages and writing things down like they were nothing before glancing at the clock.

‘Fifteen minutes already gone and what do I have to show for it? Three lousy questions answered and I’m not even sure if those answers are the right ones.....’

As the clock neared close to nine thirty, some students began putting their stuff away and turned their sheets over, indicating they were finished as they breathed a sigh of relief and stretched out their tired, tense muscles which really didn’t help Derek much either.

He tried to get back to focusing on the task at hand, knowing he only had less than twenty-five minutes left to go.

‘Come on Derek, focus. You’re going to flunk if you don’t......not that I actually give a damn in the first place, but I certainly don’t want the old biddy nagging on me either all summer long just because I didn’t do so well. Ugh, knowing her, she’d probably send me to Summer School and I certainly don’t want to do that!’

He glanced up again to see Mr. Garcia quietly pacing around the room, watching over the students and glancing at his watch every now and again, even through there was a clock located just above the doorway.

“Is everything alright Derek?” Mr. Garcia asked when he saw Derek hasn’t been concentrating on his paper, his voice barely above a whisper so that he didn’t disturb the other students. “You seem distracted.”

“No...no, everything is fine Mr. Garcia.”

“Well, you better get back to work on those questions. You only have less than sixteen minutes left.”

Derek let out a frustrated sigh as he flipped over the page to more confusing questions, some of which he couldn’t quite understand, but he answered them anyway the best he could.

He once more shook his head in disbelief as Mr. Garcia checked his watch again.

“And stop! Can everyone hand in their papers please? I’m sure you all did very well.” He muttered as students began handing him their exams on the way out. “Thank you.....thank you.....thank you.....and Derek, can you hand in your paper please? I can’t give you anymore time.”

“Great, now I know I flunked for sure!” he mumbled to himself as he got up from his desk, closing up the packet of papers then handing it over to Mr. Garcia.

“I wish you the best of luck, Derek. I hope you got at least a few questions answered on this. Your future going into Grade 10 depends on it.”

No words could be said as Derek only nodded and left the classroom, making a beeline for his locker.

He wanted to get out of there as soon as humanly possible.

“Hey Snake, how well did you do on your exam?”

“I think I did alright......how about you, Wheels?”

“I think I flunked.....I didn’t even get to finish mine.”

“I’m sure you did well, don’t worry. Hey, I’m going to head off to the arcade to unwind from that exam, wanna come with me?”

“Yeah, sure.....anything to get me out of my counselling session. Quite frankly I am so done talking about all that’s happened this year, how to properly ‘handle’ dealing with the situation and blah blah blah blah.....it’s the same old garbage that doesn’t help anything at all. Counselling sucks!”

As they locked their lockers, they briefly glanced into Mr. Raditch’s room to see Joey was still hard at work writing his exam.

“I wonder how well Joey will do this time? Remember last year....he flunked!”

“Who knows!!! Come on!” Snake laughed as they began making their way down the stairs. “Man, that exam was brutal......”

* * *

 

Joey once again glanced over the questions on his paper, hoping he got them all right as the bell rang to signal the end of class.

“Hand in your papers please, on my desk face down. Neatly.” Mr. Raditch addressed as the students one by one walked up to the front of the room to hand in their exam sheet.

‘I hope I did it right this time around......I can’t fail. I have to pass in order to go to the dance!’ Joey thought to himself as he got up to hand in his sheet. “Um, Mr. Raditch, when are the marks going to be ready?”

“They’ll be available tomorrow after school, Joey.”

“Great, thanks!” Joey said as he grabbed his fedora and headed out! “This is going to be a dynamite dance!!! See ya around Caitlin!”

Caitlin smiled as she watched Joey go before heading up to the front of the class.

“So, I see you and Joey have made up.” observed Melanie.

“I think so....I like him. I shouldn’t, but I can’t help it.” Said Caitlin as they headed out to their locker.

“Did Joey explain what happened Friday Night?”

“Yeah, he did. I just wish he would stop doing these stupid, ridiculous mistakes. He’s way better than this.....I know he’s way better than this!”

“ _Would Louella Hawkins please see Doris Bell in the School Office immediately. Louella Hawkins.”_ Mr. Lawrence announced over the PA System.

“Hmm, I wonder if they’re finally going to do something about those annoying false alarms?!” Melanie pondered upon hearing the custodian’s name being called.

“I don’t know....I hope they do something about it soon through....maybe that’s why Louella’s been called down to the office......it’s so annoying having to evacuate only to be told to come back in again time after time.”  
“And the fire department has been here over a dozen or so times now as well.....I’m sure they too are getting pretty fed up with it! Do schools also get fined for nuisance calls?”

“I’m sure they do, Melanie. If that’s the case, I wonder how many fines Degrassi already has to it’s name?”

* * *

 

“You wanted to see me, Doris?” snapped Louella Hawkins as she rushed into the office.

“Well, hello to you too Louella.” Doris replied in return, causing the custodian to let out a sigh.

“I’m sorry Doris.....I didn’t mean to snap at you. It’s just that, I’m getting so tired of dealing with these constant false alarms and then having various Fire Marshals all over the city call you, some copping a damn attitude with you like it’s our fault we can’t keep the fire alarms from going off! Sorry, it’s a malfunction beyond our control here.....We can’t simply shut off the system either cause that would be what? Illegal. I am so beyond frustrated at this point......I’m also way behind schedule as well due to said alarms going off.....it’s times like this I wish someone could CLONE me so I can be at two different places at once! Then it wouldn’t be such a hassle!”

“Well, pretty soon this will all be put to rest Louella. We just received a call confirming that the boiler repair crew is on their way...they said they should be here very shortly.”

“Well, they must have FLOWN here cause we have two vehicles out front with the name ‘Narbo Gas Boiler Repair Emergency Service’ written on the side. I just saw them unloading their equipment now actually when I walked past the main doors to get to the office.”

“Wow.....that was fast. Just think, the sooner they get going on the repair work, the better things will hopefully be for now on here at Degrassi. No more false alarms, no more overactive furnaces.....we can put them all behind us and look forward to the future!”

“Yeah, let’s hope! The way things are going now Doris, I really do not look forward to yet another winter full of constant malfunctions! This past winter had been brutal enough as it was!”

Doris smirked at that.

“Don’t I know it considering how much brunt I got from it all. Almost every single day from you it was ‘Doris, where’s the part I ordered? Doris, is that damn part in yet? Doris, if that part isn’t in today, so help me’...”

“Well at least you weren’t constantly getting complaints from both staff as well as students and then getting your head chewed off when the answer you give them is one they simply didn’t want to hear from you!”

* * *

 

“It was good of Dr. Schonder to see Emma so quickly. I’ll pick up the prescription.” exclaimed Ms Nelson as she pulled up to Degrassi Junior High School so she could drop Christine off for her scheduled exam with Ms. Avery.

“More money.....” Christine moaned as she got out of the car and said goodbye to her soon to be one year old daughter Emma, who was at the moment very miserable due to being sick once more.

“We can afford this, don’t worry. Good luck on your exam!”

“I don’t want to write it.....”

“You want to go to University, right?”

Christine shrugged her shoulders, feeling very unsure of herself as she began making her way towards the main doors of the school.

“Just do the best you can....see you later, honey.”

As Ms. Nelson drove off with Emma, Christine stopped to check out the activity going on with the boiler repair folks for a bit before heading up towards the doors.

“Um, excuse me....you wouldn’t mind holding these doors while we get these containers in here?” a woman dressed in an orange jumpsuit asked as she struggled to rush towards the main entrance of the school, carefully carrying in her hands two grey coloured containers with the word “FLAMMABLE’ labelled in big, red letters on the sides. “These containers can be quite dangerous if not handled properly....”

“Sure thing.....” Christine replied as she held the door open.  
“Thanks. It’ll only be for a minute, OK, set these things down on this trolley like so and there. Phew, my fellow co-workers should be coming up with the rest of the containers and other equipment shortly. I hope we’re not keeping you from anything.”

“Oh, no..... there’s no rush. I’m a bit early to begin with. I’m here to write my final exam which doesn’t start til 10:30 so I’m good.”

“Alright, and good luck on your exam by the way....I hope you’ll do well.”

Christine smiled. “I hope so too, Miss.”

“The name’s Marianne. No worries! Just think, after this it’ll be nothing but long, hot summer days of fun and freedom for two whole months! No more pencils, no more books, no more teachers dirty looks!” the woman replied as she waited on the rest of her crew. “Goodness, these guys can be so slow!!!”

“It’s OK.....I don’t mind, really!”

“Still, we’re holding you back and we really shouldn’t. We too also have a schedule to maintain......come on, you guys! We haven’t got all day you know!”

Quickly, a few other orange jumpsuit wearing workers came up towards the school, carrying more containers, thick wires and other unknown pieces of equipment.

“Sorry about that.......we appreciate your help though, um.....?”

“Christine....and thanks for the well wishes Marianne. Good luck on whatever it is you’re going to be working on around here.” said Christine as she then headed off to the office to sign in.

“Thanks. We’re definitely going to be needing it.....that’s for sure. So, we got everything?” the woman asked one of her fellow co-workers, who was doing a double check to make sure.

“I believe so....”

“Alright, let’s head for the office. I’ve never seen wiring like this!”

“Not since last year.”

“This place needs a lot of work....you think this stuff is safe out here?”

“Oh yeah, we just need a signature. We won’t be long.....Hello, we’ve come to repair the boiler system.”  
“Ah, yes....yes come in please.” Doris addressed. “I’m Doris Bell, the School secretary here at Degrassi Junior High School and this here is our head custodian, Louella Hawkins.”

“Nice to meet you both. I’m Dan and this is my assistant, Marianne from the Narbo Gas Boiler Repair Emergency Service. Before we get started, we need to ask for a signature from the both of you.... for our records....”

“Yes, of course.....”

“ _This is your Principal, Mr. Lawrence speaking. We apologize for the recent rash of annoying false alarms. Both the faulty wiring is responsible and our always erratic furnace systems are being repaired. Please be patient while this work continues. Thank you.”_

“Great timing for that announcement.......” Louella muttered as she then signed the paper.

“It’s that bad huh?” Dan asked upon hearing the announcement.

“Yeah, ever since December we’ve had major problems with the furnace. Mostly it wasn’t keeping a steady, healthy temperature throughout the winter months. Often times it seriously felt like we were directly in front of the sun it was so hot in here! Now, recently we’ve been having major issues with the fire alarms constantly going off....that began sometime around late April, early May. Just before you guys arrived, we just had the alarms go off once more for the sixth time this week alone.....it’s very frustrating having to stop whatever it is that you’re doing just to rush down into the boiler room, open the fire alarm control panel and hit the reset button to shut it off before it sends the signal out to various fire departments all across the city. Since April, we’ve already received how many fines from the city now, Doris?”

“About eight......”

“Yeah.....we can’t shut off the system entirely cause for one, that would be illegal and two, put at risk the entire building. But then again....we can’t keep going on having to deal with whatever it is that’s triggering them to go off constantly in the first place on a regular daily basis either. It’s like being stuck between a rock and a hard place, you know?”

“That is completely understandable Ms. Hawkins and no worries....we’ll get to the very bottom of your boiler issues and have them repaired as soon as we possibly can!”

“Thank you so much....let me lead you to our chaos that is the boiler room then so you can get started....follow me. Please excuse the mayhem that’s going on around here at the moment....it’s year end exam time for many of our students....”

* * *

 

Tessa Campanelli had just finished up her History exam and was at her locker when her best friend and fellow classmate Scott Webster, otherwise known as Scooter came up from behind and tapped her shoulder.

“You’re it!” he yelled as he began running the opposite direction down the hall.

“Not for long!” Tessa replied as she quickly ran after him, nearly running into Lucy, L.D, Heather and Erica.

“Hey....watch it, stupid little kids!” Erica shouted.

“Ugh, I can’t wait to get out of this place!” grumbled Lucy. “Finally, a real high school. Bye-bye Junior High!”

“I can’t wait to get out of here too....” added in L.D. “These kids are giving me a headache....Hey, there’s Spike!”

“Hi guys......” Spike greeted when she saw the girls approach her. “How was the exam this time around?”

“A bit on the harder side, but I’m sure you’ll do well!” answered Heather. “So, how’s Emma?”

“Well, we took her to the doctor again this morning.....another typical infection.”

“Oh no......I hope she gets better soon, Spike.” said Lucy as they began walking towards the Resource Centre.

“Thanks...it’s so exhausting having to deal with a sick baby and having to study for exams at the exact same time. I hardly got any sleep at all last night because I was up taking care of Emma every couple of hours. Truth be told, I’m not even ready to write out this exam. I don’t think I can do it....but I have to, otherwise I’ll flunk my entire year, if I haven’t already done so!”

“Don’t worry Spike, I’m sure you’ll do fine. Have they found out what could be causing all these constant infections?” asked L.D.

“Yeah, they said that because Emma was born prematurely over a year ago, her immune system isn’t all that great and is prone to getting easily infected with various illnesses. Doctors are hoping as years go on, her immune system begins to get stronger so she can fight infections on her own without the constant need for medication.”

“OK, what’s with all these guys in the bright, tacky orange jumpsuits all of a sudden? I looked out the window earlier and saw a bunch of them outside the school.” inquired Erica.

“Oh, I think they’re finally going to repair the school’s boiler system. It’s about time they did something about it. Anyway, I’ll talk to you guys later!”

“Alright Spike, good luck!” the girls replied as they headed out.

“Call us when you get home Spike, OK? Tell us how it went!” added in Heather.

Spike nodded, then took a deep breath as she stood by the Resource Centre door before opening it, grabbing the attention of Ms. Avery who was in the process of marking some exam papers from her seventh grade class.

“Spike....are you all set?” she asked, getting up from her seat and grabbed another piece of paper that laid on the edge of the table.

“I guess so.....”

“How’s Emma?”

“She’s sick again.” Spike sighed as she took her seat.

“Aww. Babies can’t help being sick. There you go.”

“Thanks.”

“Oh, and if you drop by to see me tomorrow afternoon, I should have your marks ready for you.” Ms. Avery exclaimed as she went to close the door before returning back to marking her papers.

Taking one look at the exam, Spike rolled her eyes in frustration before getting to work.

‘I am so screwed.’ she thought to herself.

* * *

 

“Hi, Mom. I’m home!” Joey announced as he came in through the back door and took off his jacket, setting it down on the chair.

“How was the exam?” Mrs. Jeremiah asked with a hint of concern in her voice.

“Piece of cake!”

“Remember our deal Joey, anything under a ‘B’ and you don’t go to the dance. We’re serious. You can’t talk your way out of this one!”

“Trust me, Mom!”

“I seem to have heard that before!”

Joey smiled as he took a cookie from the cookie jar to munch on.

“Mom, you were a ‘chick’ once....right?”

Mrs. Jeremiah chuckled a bit at the question.

“I suppose I was a ‘chick’ once......why?”

“It’s just......I like Caitlin. Like a lot, and......I don’t want to mess things up again.”

“And?”

“Well....if you were her, would you like it if I brought you flowers to the dance, or would you think it was sucky?”

“No....I’d think it was very romantic!”

“Really?”

“I think it’s a lovely idea, sweetie. I’m sure she would be delighted.”

“Thanks Mom.....um, do you have any money I can borrow?”

“I knew there was a catch to this.....OK.”

* * *

 

Louella Hawkins was utterly exhausted as she made her way down into the basement one last time to inform the repair crew that she would be closing up the school for the night and that they needed to call it a day.

However, just as she began to make her way towards the boiler room door, she couldn’t help but notice a rather dangerous practice being done.

“Now I am no boiler repair expert by any means, but I do know that storing liquids and gases that are either explosive or flammable next to any type of heat source is an endangerment. I’d better advise them on that......” she exclaimed as she went into the boiler room. “Hey guys, first off it’s now 4:30 and I’m about ready to close up for the night. Second of all, these containers and cylinders you guys have outside the boiler room.....are you sure they will be safe there being next to a heat source?”

“Um....yeah, they should be....they’re not exactly close to the boiler room door so they should be fine there....no worries. Also, we’re just about finished for the day ourselves. Just got to clean things up and then we’ll be heading off. We’ll be up shortly!” said Marianne as she proceeded to wipe her hands clean. “We certainly got a lot of work on our hands that’s for sure.....You guys have more issues than what you first thought.”

“Oh? What else is going on with these boilers?”

“Far too much to actually explain, but we will see into these issues and have them fixed up for you in no time!”

“Alright, I trust you guys know what you’re doing....”

“That we do Ms. Hawkins, no worries! We’ll be up shortly.”

Louella headed back up the stairs where the rest of her crew were waiting, all wanting to get home so they too could relax for the evening.

“I’ve told them....they said they’ll be up shortly!” she exclaimed, her voice barely above a whisper as she tried to regain her breath from coming back up the stairs.

“Oh, um.....did you bring up the issue with those flammable containers and cylinders being stored next to the boiler room door?” asked Josh. “I noticed that earlier today when they were unpacking their equipment.”

“Yeah, I did....they said it should be fine where they are....although I do have my doubts. Even we know better than to store flammable or explosive stuff any-where's near hot areas. I just hope nothing bad happens tonight.....It makes me rather nervous actually leaving this building knowing we have an endangerment next to the boiler room. If they say it’s OK, who am I to disagree, right? After all, they are the experts in boiler repairing. They know what they’re doing.”

“I certainly hope so.” replied Mary. “Although I too have my doubts about them.”

“Shh, shh, they’re coming up. Everyone keep your thoughts to yourselves.” Scott hissed as he heard the crew coming up the stairs.

“So sorry about that guys....we didn’t mean to hold you all up like that. First thing tomorrow morning we’ll start getting to work on boiler number 2 and try to find out what’s triggering your fire alarm system to go off constantly among other problems we have discovered. So, what time is convenient for you guys?” asked Dan.

“Um, Eight o’clock...does that sound good to you guys?”

The other custodians nodded their approval as the repair crew began making their way out of the school.

“Alright, we’ll see you bright and early at Eight then. Have a good night!”

“Good night, guys. Night Ms. Hawkins.” Marianne greeted as she too left.

When the repair crew left, Louella turned back to her crew with a grim look at her face.

“You know something guys, I got a really bad feeling about all this!”

 

 


	2. These Dreams.........

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "They say dreams can often predict the future or perhaps warn us of the inevitable....does this mean that maybe.....something bad IS going to happen???"

Later that night, Louella tossed and turned in her sleep as she was having a bad dream, something that was very rare of her to have, but has been happening quite a lot as of late.

In many of her dreams, she bares witness to Degrassi Junior High's ultimate demise as it burns down to the ground.

For some unknown reason, she knew that the fire was raging out of control in the Boiler Room and that it was rapidly spreading throughout the rest of the building, however she had no idea as to what could have possibly started the fire in the first place.

Some scenarios would have people trapped inside with no way out, other times everyone would be safely accounted for outside watching the destruction unfold before their very eyes.

Tonight's nightmare however saw her trapped within the Boiler Room Office.

_It was the night of the Graduation Dance as music could be heard throughout the hallways along with a whole lot of hollering, cheering and clapping between each set that was played by DJ Rompin' Rockin' Raditch._

_Louella found herself in the Boiler Room Office working on some kind of paperwork that truthfully should have been done months ago, but constant boiler malfunctions, furnace issues and other problems arising out of nowhere kept her from doing them until that point._

_Since she had four hours to spare while waiting for the dance to end so she could clean up the rest of the school before calling it a night, it was the perfect time to finally catch up before the school year came to an end._

_She glanced up at the clock to see what time it was and that's when she saw plumbs of smoke drifting throughout the air._

_Quickly, she stood up from her desk in a panic and looked around the entire office, wondering where the smoke was coming from._

_When there were no flames to be seen within the office, she immediately headed for the door that lead out into the Boiler Room, but stopped dead in her tracks when she saw a bright, orange glow flickering violently underneath._

_Cursing under her breath, she tried to open the door but the handle was far too hot to touch._

_She frantically looked around the room, hoping for another door or even a window so she could make her escape, but there were none to be found anywhere._

_She was trapped!_

_Suddenly, she heard a loud KABOOM and..._

That's when she woke up with a scream and gasping for air, her forehead was just dripping in cold sweat.

Frantic, she looked around and realized she was safely at home in her own bed.

"It was just another bad dream..." she muttered to herself as she got up and went over to the window in an attempt to calm down.

Pushing the curtain back, she could see the school just across the road untouched and thankfully still standing, no sign of smoke, flames, flashing lights or emergency vehicles to be seen anywhere.

"That's the fourth dream I've had this week alone where Degrassi was on fire...it's getting really weird. I don't know why I've been having these particular dreams as of late. Is my conscience trying to tell me something?"

She closed the curtain and went back to her bed, looking at the clock to see what time it was.

"Ugh, 2:15 in the morning. Really? I gotta get back to sleep...that is if I can get back to sleep at all. That dream was just too realistic for my liking...let's hope I don't have anymore of those disturbing dreams..."

She went back underneath the covers and soon fell back to sleep again.

* * *

 

Louella wasn't the only Degrassi Custodian experiencing these weird, disturbing dreams as of late either as Josh Thomas paced back and forth in his living room, trying to calm himself down from the dream he just had.

In his scenario, he found himself trapped on the second floor along with his fellow co-workers, teachers and terrified students.

_The stairwell on the left had threatening, roaring flames licking up the stairs and walls while the stairwell on the right was filled with black, heavy thick smoke, making it impossible to escape out to safety._

_The only ones who did manage to make it out were Ms. Avery, Doris Bell, Principal Bruce Lawrence, Mr. Garcia and most of the seventh and ninth grade students._

_They stood as far away from the building as possible, watching helplessly in horror as the thick, black smoke plumed up into the sky and flames licked the windows of what used to be Mr. Garcia's classroom, trying to burst through the glass for more oxygen._

_Suddenly an explosion could be felt throughout the entire building as a massive fireball punched through the air..._

It was then he woke up in a frantic, wondering how he was even still alive.

“This is getting utterly ridiculous. Seems every night now for the past week I’ve been having these vicious nightmares and terrors about Degrassi Junior High burning down to the ground. Why though? Why am I having these constant disturbing images playing through my head?” He mumbled to himself as he sat down on the couch. “These dreams are becoming way too real, like it actually feels you’re right there in the hallways, classrooms, the office or Boiler Room. I can hear everyone’s distinctive voices screaming and crying for help.......desperate to get out. The fire alarm is ringing non stop, urging us to escape. The sounds of glass shattering, the deafening roar of the flames as they grow higher and higher. I can feel the sweltering heat. The smoke is so strong, it’s hard to breathe. They say dreams can often predict the future or warn us of the inevitable......Louella said yesterday before we all left work that she had a bad feeling about this! A bad feeling about what exactly? A bad feeling about Narbo’s Gas Boiler Repair Emergency Service? A bad feeling about our boilers? I don’t know.”

He got back up again and paced the floor once more.

“In many of my nightmares, there seems to be a constant theme that this tragedy takes place on June 23rd. That is not only the last day of school, but also the night of the Graduation Dance. Does this mean maybe......just maybe something bad...... _IS_.....going to..........happen? Oh, no....no, no, no......Oh dear God, I hope not!”

Shaking his head, he went into the kitchen to get a glass of water in hopes that it would clear his head of those dreadful thoughts and calm his nerves so he could get back to sleep again cause it was getting closer to three in the morning and he only had less than an hour left before having to get up again for work.

Once he finished his cup, he took a deep breath in before turning off the lights in the living room and headed back upstairs to his room, climbing back into the now cool covers of his bed.

“No more nightmares tonight! I don’t think I can stand anymore!” He muttered as his head hit the pillow and tried to get back to sleep again!

* * *

 

The next morning, it was usual business at Degrassi Junior High as the second day of examinations commenced.

Doris Bell handled the usual year end paperwork for Mr. Lawrence, the students either remained in the resource centre studying or scurried to their next exam, the custodians continued to keep the place neat and tidy while Narbo’s Gas Boiler Repair Crew began working on Boiler Number 2, trying to solve the annoying fire alarm issue along with a few other ‘problems’ they claimed were also found the night before.

But for some strange reason through, nether Marianne or Dan could not thoroughly explain to Louella Hawkins what those issues were and basically she had the right to know what was really going on and what they were doing about them!

It was bad enough the thoughts of last night's nightmares were still fresh in her mind, now she got this unbeknownst secrecy to worry about as well.

"Hey Louella, are you alright?" a male voice came up from behind, startling her out of her thoughts as she turned around to the source.

"Josh...Oh, it's only you....... You startled me!"

"Sorry, I didn't mean to...I was just wondering if everything is OK with you. Throughout most of the day, it seems as though your mind is elsewhere. You look very distracted..."

Louella thought about telling Josh about these dreams she's been having, but then decided to keep them to herself for the time being.

"Yeah, I'm fine Josh. I just got a lot on my mind right now, that's all. How about you? Throughout most of the day, you've been rather jittery. Now that I've gotten a good look at you, I also can't help but notice the bloodshot eyes as well, did you get much sleep last night?"

Josh wanted to tell Louella about these disturbing dreams he's been having as of late, but couldn't.

"Not really. It was a rather rough night last night...I kept tossing and turning, couldn't find a comfortable position to settle down into." he lied, hoping Louella would buy it.

Even through a bit skeptical, Louella nodded her head none the less.

"Well, I still got some stuff to clean around Sector 4E. I'm sure Scott's probably wondering what's taking me so long just to grab some rags. I’ll catch ya' later Louella!"

Louella watched as Josh began making his way down the hall towards the stairwell.

"Josh..." She began but was suddenly interrupted by the fire alarms going off. "Darn it...never mind, you better get back to work!" She addressed as she rushed down towards the boiler room to shut off the alarm before the fire department showed up.

* * *

 

Down in the boiler room, Louella ran straight into the office and hit the fire alarm reset button on the control panel as quick as she could!

"Marianne, Dan, haven't you guys figured it out yet what's causing our alarms to go off constantly? Truthfully it's really becoming a nuisance!" she yelled out.

"I'm sorry Ms. Hawkins. I take it the alarms went off again?" Marianne asked as she walked into the office and stood by the doorway.

"Yes, again! These constant false alarms are really starting to get on everyone's nerves. I'm starting to notice many of my co-workers are becoming very jittery and really, who can blame them? Further more, it certainly doesn't help our students much who are already on edge with exams...and we’re only on day two!"

"I assure you Ms. Hawkins, we have everything under control...OK? We're doing everything we can to solve these issues!"

"What are these 'issues' you keep bringing up anyway? As head custodian, I do have the right to know what is really going on with these boilers and how they're being addressed! I find it quite weird that you've been rather secretive since yesterday...not exactly PROFESSIONAL if you ask me!"

"You're right...and I deeply apologize for not letting you know sooner about the issues you are having. Well first off, we believe what is causing the alarms to constantly go off is Faulty Wiring either somewhere in the school or right here in this very boiler room. Many of my workers have thoroughly gone through this building and found many issues with the wiring. We're amazed this place hasn't even had an electrical fire, it's such a nightmare. Second of all, we've found several leaks on the inside of the second boiler which has been causing a loss in water and steam pressure. If not dealt with immediately, it could have serious if not devastating consequences. Now, as for the first boiler which happens to be your furnace as well, am I right? It appears you have a faulty thermostat that causes the boiler to overrun cause it doesn't have the proper signal to shut it down when rooms reach normal temperature so we'll have to replace that. Other than that...there's really not much else we can address here Ms. Hawkins. We're already well underway making repairs to those leaks as well as dealing with the faulty wiring situation. It may either take a few days or maybe a couple of weeks...depending on how bad the damages are. I hope this clears everything up for now, but if there are any more questions or concerns then please don't hesitate to ask me or Dan."

"Thank you...that makes me feel so much better."

As Marianne went back into the boiler room, Louella sat down at her desk and let out a sigh.

“Geeze, about time they properly informed me of what’s going on instead of being all secretive! I knew we had some pretty bad wiring issues but I never knew they were _THAT_ bad. Those dreams......could that be the cause of.....NO, no Louella, don’t even go there! Don’t even think about it......but what if those dreams are trying to tell me something.....warning me of the inevitable? If they are true, Oh God, help us all!”

She glanced at her calendar hanging on the wall at one particular date, June 23rd, the last day of school.

* * *

 

"That exam was just brutal! Please tell me business gets much more easier as we go along?" pleaded Lucy as she, Heather and Erica left the classroom together.

"I don't think so Luce. I don’t think I’ll be taking it next year! Thankfully it’s not mandatory to take it year after year if you don’t want to, which is good. Business is not my forte!” added in Heather.

“Well, just think guys, we only have three more exams to go and then we are out of here! Next year, we’re be in an actual High School! Just think of all those boys!" beamed Erica.

Heather just rolled her eyes at her sister's over excitement for boys.

"Erica, is that all you ever think about? There's more to High School than just boys!"

"Oh, Heather...don't be such a prude!"

"I am not a prude! Anyway, on a much more serious note, I've been meaning to ask you Lucy if you've been having some strange dreams lately?"

"No, not really Heather...why?"

"Oh, it's nothing."

Nearby, Josh Thomas was in the broom-closet restocking some of the shelves when he overheard the word ‘dreams’.

He quickly stopped what he was doing and began ease-dropping on the conversation.

"Heather had a dream last night that something tragic happened to this school..."  
"Erica!"

"Whoa, really? What kind of tragedy was it?" inquired Lucy.

"Since it's now out of the bag no thanks to my Sister, I dreamt that this school burnt down. There were flames everywhere. It was really weird and scary!"

"Wow, that is weird! Since we got the rest of the day off, you guys wanna go hang out at the mall?"

"Yeah, sure!" Heather and Erica replied as they then headed towards the main doors of the school.

Josh watched as the girls left.

“I’m not the only one.......even some students are having these types of dreams too. I wonder if any other staff members have been having these envisions?”

* * *

 

"Snake, Wheels!" Joey hollered as he ran down the hall to catch up with his pals. "I can't wait til School's Out. I only have three more exams to go after this and then...no more classes. Man, I hope I'll pass this year! I don't think I can stand another year in Mr. Raditch's class!"

"I only have one more exam to go!" bragged Snake with a smirk.

"Lucky you, I still have three more exams to go!" added Wheels bitterly. "And one 'make up' due to those darn constant false alarms. Man, I wish they'd finally get them fixed."

"I know what you mean! I was so deep in concentration earlier when another false alarm went off...now I don't even know if I either passed or flunked. At least we no longer have to evacuate every single time! Now that was getting too annoying, having to leave the classroom, get half way down the hallway or stairwell only to be told the proceeding has been a false alarm and to return to our rooms! That was a workout and a half! Especially when it happened more than a few times a day! So, what are you guys up to now? Care to head on over to the arcade and play some video games?"

"Sorry Joey, I wish I could, but I can't. I gotta go home and study. The make up exam is scheduled for tomorrow so I got to prepare myself for it! Maybe some other time, catch ya’ later!”

Joey and Snake watched as Wheels made his way out of the school and began down the street.

"Gee, for someone who barely came to school at all throughout the entire semester, he sure is 'concerned' all of a sudden about his marks. I thought he no longer cared for school?"

"Maybe his Grandmother has something to do with it..." Snake suggested as they headed out themselves.

"Maybe..." shrugged Joey as he, along with Snake went down the embankment towards the sidewalk. "So, do you wanna come with me to the arcade, Snake?"

"Yeah, sure...why not!? I no longer have to study now until June 22nd. That's my last exam date, then after that, no more school until September! Hopefully this time we'll have an actual High School to attend."  
"Why? What's wrong with Degrassi Junior High?"

"Joey, technically we're suppose to be in High School in the first place! I mean, no offence but who wants to hang out with a bunch of little kids? You should see how the students of Borden High treat us...they think we attend a nursery school and wear diapers because of it!"

"Snake, you don't wear a diaper...what a bunch of Broomheads! Don’t listen to them. If anything, they’re probably the ones wearing the diapers!”

“Yeah.....you’re right!”

* * *

 

Down in a little alcove in the basement, Josh sat staring at the containers and cylinders labelled FLAMMABLE sitting next to the boiler room door deeply lost in thought.

He was so lost in thought, that he didn’t even hear the sound of keys jingling as Louella came down to fetch a bottle of cleaner, nearly almost tripping over his legs as she turned the corner.

“Josh....what are you doing down here? Shouldn’t you be upstairs cleaning the classrooms? We do have another day of school tomorrow don’t you know!”

“Sorry Louella, I asked Scott to do them for me. My mind is just too occupied right now.”

“With what? Josh, what is going on?”

“What you said the night before.......about having a bad feeling? A bad feeling about what exactly?”

“I.......I don’t really know exactly to be truthfully honest. One thing I know for sure, I’m still very concerned about having those containers of flammable so close to the boiler room door like that......them and the cylinder. I don’t even have a single clue what’s inside those containers. I’m also very confused about how they’re handling this stuff as they carry it throughout the school. One minute I see a repair worker handling these containers like a sensitive, explosive chemical, the next they’re just swinging it around like it was water! Even through I have raised awareness and concern for the placement of these containers, they obviously don’t see any problems having them there in the first place.”

“Well, we certainly do.....we know this is highly dangerous practice here. Isn’t there anything we can say or do to convince them otherwise to move it someplace else that’s much more safer?”

“Afraid not, Josh. They’re pretty set in their ways unfortunately. Tell you what, since you’ve had a pretty rough day, why don’t you head off home early? Go home, get some much needed rest and hopefully come back feeling 100% without the severe case of jitters! I gotta finish up the upstairs! See you tomorrow!”

“Night, Louella.” Josh sighed as Louella headed down the hallway towards the storage room where they safely kept their cleaners and chemicals. “Although I doubt I’ll be getting rid of those jitters anytime soon, though.”

He took one last look of the pile of Flammable containers before heading up to sign out for the day.

 


	3. Countdown to the last day of School

All was quiet throughout the Farrell Twins Bedroom, except for the faint ticking of Erica’s bedside clock as the girls slept.

Erica rolled over to a more comfortable position while Heather began tossing, turning and moaning in her sleep.

She was having one of those weird nightmares again......

_She found herself all alone in the main foyer of Degrassi Junior High School in what appears to be one of her dresses without any understanding as to why she was even there in the first place, especially if it was at a dance._

_She should have been down in the gym with the rest of her friends having a good time, not standing in the main foyer for no apparent reason._

_Mr. Raditch certainly was playing some good tunes at the moment, and there she was missing out on all the fun!_

_Just as she began making her way down the right stairwell towards the gym, a large wall of flames shot out of nowhere, blocking her path._

_In a panic, she rushed towards the main doors in hopes of escaping that way, but it too was blocked by flames._

_She ran to the other stairwell on the left which was thankfully clear and made her way to the exit doors there. They were locked._

_She then tried the exit doors located just behind her......same thing._

_The flames crept closer and closer from both the basement and the main floor, now trapping her._

_Frantic, she ran into what appeared to be a daycare centre and slammed the door shut._

_Carefully, she tried to navigate through the room, bumping into easels, tables and chairs as she tried to find a way out._

_She knew there was a door somewhere.....she saw it all the time outside of the school._

_Finally she felt what appeared to be a doorknob and turned it, hearing a rather satisfying click._

“ _Oh, thank goodness.” she muttered as she ran out of the building, just in time to see the entire place fully engulfed in flames._

“ _ERICA!!! ERICA!!!! ERICA..........”_

“Erica.........Erica.........No.....Erica, please.......Some.....somebody help......fire........call the fire department.......my sister.......she’s trapped inside......Erica.......”

Erica awoke to the sound of her name being muttered and quickly jumped out of bed towards Heather’s in an attempt to calmly wake her up from whatever horrible nightmare she was having this time.

“Heather.......Heather, wake up. You’re having a bad dream again......wake up, Heather.”  
“ERICA...........” Heather screamed as she sat straight up, dazed and confused for a bit before seeing Erica sitting right beside her and immediately embraced her. “Erica.......oh thank goodness you’re alright!”

“Of course I’m alright Heather. You were having another bad dream again!”

“It was so horrible! There I was in the main foyer of Degrassi, no idea why though.....I began to make my way to the gym when all of a sudden a wall of flame came out of nowhere, blocking my path and chased me to the left side of the building. I managed to get out through the daycare centre there.”

“There’s a daycare centre inside Degrassi Junior High School? I never really actually noticed. Has it always been there?”

“Yeah! Those painting that are up in the window there that looks like they’ve been done by a bunch of little kids located on the left side of the building? That’s the daycare centre. I believe Lucy once volunteered her time there after school last year, remember? Anyway, I stumbled through the room until I found a door and finally managed to get out safely.....and that’s when I saw the entire building completely engulfed in flames. I thought you were..........Oh, I must have been mumbling your name in my sleep!”

“Heather, that’s the second dream you’ve had now where Degrassi was on fire. I don’t know about you, but I think this is getting really weird and extremely scary! Why are you having these disturbing dreams all of a sudden?”

“I don’t know, but I hope it doesn’t actually come true in reality! What time is it anyway?”

“It’s only Three Thirty in the morning. You better try to get some more rest. We got a big exam ahead of us later on today, our final one at that and then when that’s all said and done....we’re free for two whole months! No more school!! I can’t wait til this summer starts! Our first summer job as camp councillors......it’s going to be a blast!”

“Night Erica!”

“Maybe I’ll meet the man of my dreams and we can fall madly in love!”

“Night, Erica!!!”

“Night, Heather.....you’re such a prude!”

“Pffft, am not!”

* * *

 

“It’s been twelve days now since Narbo Gas Boiler Repair Emergency Service arrived at Degrassi and we still have massive issues going on. Our fire alarms still keep going off constantly and the furnace has yet to be touched!” Louella mumbled to herself as she now struggled to stay awake in her office.

She had been there since two in the morning after having yet again another rough night full of scary nightmares about the school burning down to the ground.

Getting up from her desk, she headed into the Boiler Room and just stared at the two boilers.

“Why did we settle for this company instead of finding someone else to do the job? Oh, that’s right....it wasn’t exactly our decision! It was the School Board’s decision, and what do they go and do? Scout out the cheapest boiler repair company they could find and hire them to do the job for less!!”

Noticing the sun was now slowly starting to rise, giving the entire room a little more light, she glanced up at the clock in her office to see what time it was.

“Almost a quarter to six. The crew should be coming along shortly and here I am seriously looking like death times ten! Guarantee they’ll be asking me what happened the moment they come walking in here for their usual briefing!”

As if on cue, the rest of the custodians came walking into the boiler room, some looking worst for wear themselves!

“Morning, Louella! Can you guys believe it’s June 21st, already? That means we’re only two more days away until summer vacation!” announced Tammy, being the only cheerful one of the bunch. “Aren’t you just as excited as I am?”

“No, not really Tam......I doubt I’ll be getting any vacation time in once so ever with the way this boiler repair work is going. If you ask me, they should have had this entire job done by now. Originally, all that should have been done was replacing the faulty thermostat in the furnace and to find out just what is causing our fire alarm system to go off constantly and put a kibosh on that, but no! Instead they tell me they found some ‘leaks’ in the second boiler! Now all of you guys know for a fact that I check both of those boilers out on a daily basis every single day and record everything! Not once had I notice any differences in either the water or steam pressure. As a matter of fact guys, taking out this record book, I can show you the numbers from December up until now. Do you see any differences or changes in numbers? NO.....of course not! If there were leaks either inside or outside of the boiler, I would have taken notice and repaired them myself the moment I found them! Truth be told, I call _BULL_ on those so called leaks! At least that ‘issue’ had been solved, but other than that, we still have a constant malfunctioning fire alarm and an overactive furnace still in need of repair! Man, other than Tammy being a bucket full of sunshine for no particular reason, the rest of you look just as bad as I do right now and here I thought I’d be the only one looking like death today!”

“Don’t even go there, Hawkins. It was a very rough night. I barely got any sleep once so ever!” said Lou Robbins.

“Join the club Lou! I’ve been here since two this morning!”

“Whoa! Why’s that Louella? What happened?” asked Mary.

“It’s nothing guys. I think it’s just your typical ‘end of the school year jitters’ kicking in, that’s all.”

“Louella, are you sure? Is there something you’re not telling us?” pleaded Josh.

“Yeah Josh, I’m sure. Don’t worry about me too much guys, OK? I’ll be fine!”

“Louella, I hope you don’t mind but there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you. What do you _really_ think of Narbo’s?” Scott suddenly inquired.

“What do I really think of Narbo’s? I think they’re your typical cheap ass company that likes to take their sweet time doing ‘the job’ and cutting corners. Why do you ask, Scott?”

“It’s just that.......there’s something that had caught my attention recently, something rather........disturbing! They’re suppose to be ‘highly trained professionals’, am I right? Well, for a bunch of ‘highly trained professionals’, they certainly like to ask a lot of questions to answers they technically should already know in the first place! The other day I came down here to get something from the office and I couldn’t help but overhear some of the workers asking things such as ‘where does this part go?’, ‘which wire connects to what area?’, ‘what does this or that pipe lead to?’......I don’t know about you guys, but if they’re ‘highly trained professionals’, they should already _KNOW_ those answers!”

“OK, that is very disturbing indeed, and scary too! I thought in order to get into that type of business, you had to have credentials and a licence to work as a boiler technician?” thought Gregory.

“You do! Once you have a High School Diploma, you then have to gain a technical diploma or associate’s degree before obtaining a valid licence in order to get a job within the field of boiler repair. They just don’t hand these licences out directly to anyone.....they have to go through years of intensive training and examinations in order to prove their worth to whatever company they hope to be hired in. No licence, no job working with boilers! That is the law.” Louella explained. “Thank you for bringing that up with us, Scott. Although there’s really not much we can do at this point. If we were to make a complaint to the School Board now, chances are they probably won’t believe us and think we’re only trying to gain more for their buck! You know how it is. Anyways guys, I think it’s time we all start getting to work! Even through we all feel like crap today, just try to do the best you can and get through the day!”

Everyone, minus Louella slowly began filing out of the Boiler Room and got to work.

Louella let out a sigh as she yawned and stretched her already aching muscles, before heading out herself.

“This is going to be a very LONG day! I can already feel it.......”

* * *

 

That afternoon in the Teacher’s Lounge, Karen Avery was just finishing up the final, last touches to Christine Nelson’s report card when Louella Hawkins came in to give the room a thorough clean-through.

“Oh, hey Karen. I didn’t think anyone would be in here right now. I hope you don’t mind, I gotta give this room a thorough cleaning before summer break gets here.”

“Oh no, not at all Louella. You do what needs to be done. I was just tallying up the final results for one student. I’m afraid it’s not good.”

Even through she basically had no right getting into student business, Louella couldn’t help but glance over the paper to see which student it was.

“Oh no.....Christine Nelson?” Louella muttered when she saw it.

“Yeah, it’s truly a shame.....she tried so hard and gave it her all, but unfortunately with the baby in the way........it has affected her marks severely. At least there’s still hope. If she so chooses, she can take correspondence courses throughout the summer months to make up for all that she’s lost and hopefully improve these marks for entrance into the academic program where she clearly belongs, but as it stands right now......she’ll only be able to move on into the general program for Grade 10. Now Louella, you know this stays between us.”

“Oh, I know Karen, no worries. I shouldn’t have even looked at the paper in the first place. We custodians have no business getting into student affairs, but I know Christine has given it her best.....even with Emma in the way, she still worked very hard. It’s a shame she didn’t quite make the grade. I just hope she doesn’t plan on giving up when you hand her the bad news. I totally wish you the best of luck.”

“I hope not either and thank you so much......she’s suppose to drop by and see me sometime this afternoon. Speaking of which, what time is it anyway?”

Louella checked her watch. “Almost a quarter to three.....”

“I better get a move on then.....time sure goes by fast when you’re constantly busy. _Alright, make sure everything is right.....I put in my signature.....get this into the envelope here, put Christine’s name on here like so and there!_ Thanks Louella. I’ll leave you to cleaning! Have fun.” Karen addressed as she then left the room and headed down to the resource centre.

* * *

Two hours had past and there was still no sign of Christine, so Karen grabbed her belongings and headed towards the office to sign out for the day.

“Doris, I have a question. Do you know where Woodgreen Beauty Salon is located?”

“Woodgreen Beauty Salon? Yes, I frequent that place all the time. Christine’s mother runs that business, she’s a wonderful hairdresser.....hold on a second and I’ll give you the address. OK, you can find it at 913 Queen Street! You can’t miss it.... the business’ name is painted right on the windows.” replied Doris. “You plan on getting your hair done for the summer, Karen?”

“No.....not today. I have some business to attend to and a report card to drop off. Thanks Doris, I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

“Alright Karen, have a good night!”

“You too Doris.” Karen replied back as she then began for the main doors, being careful not to ruin Lou’s cleaning efforts as he mopped the floor for the last time of the day.

“Goodnight, Karen.” he replied with a wave which Karen returned back as she left.

* * *

 

Karen finally made her way to Queen Street and began looking for 913.

She past many stores, pharmacies, bars, bakeries and eateries before finally coming across Woodgreen Beauty Salon.

Inside, she could see Ms. Nelson working on a customer’s hair while Christine tended to the baby who was laying in her stroller.

At first, she thought about maybe holding onto the report card until tomorrow so she could hand it over personally and privately, but then again Christine might once again be a no show at school and she had walked quite a bit from Degrassi Street all the way to Queen Street just to drop it off anyway.

Sadly, this had to be done one way or another.

Chimes rang as she opened the door, grabbing the attention of Ms. Nelson, who had stopped cutting to see who had walked in.

“Ms. Avery, what brings you here?” she asked, perplexed.

“Hello, I’ve come to see Christine.”

Christine stood up from the baby and walked forward.

“You didn’t drop by to see me this afternoon......I brought your report card. I’m afraid it’s not good.”

Christine took the report card that was handed to her and placed it on a pile of magazines before heading back to fetch a broom and dust pan, not really in the mood to hear anymore about her failed year of school.

“Some of your marks are really quite poor,” Ms. Avery continued. “But if you choose to accept them, you could move into the general program, but not in the academic program where we all know you belong. What I suggest is that you make up these marks in correspondence courses.”

“What’s the point, Ms. Avery? Do you know how hard it’s been juggling school and a baby?”

“Christine!” Ms. Nelson protested, trying to talk some sense into her daughter but was quickly shut down.

“Mom, I’m worn out. I don’t want to go into an academic program. I don’t want to go to school!”

“Christine.....don’t give up. You got so much going for you........this is just a temporary setback!”

“Temporary? Right. Don’t worry about me, I can drop out of school and be a typical teenage mother who will never do anything or go anywhere. End up living my life on welfare cheques and depending on food-banks for food and baby supplies that will only do you about a week or less........”

“NO. Christine, that is not the life you want to have! Don’t quit. Get the marks you know you can get. You owe it to yourself......and Emma!”

Upon hearing the baby’s name, Christine got quite upset as she looked down upon the little, innocent bundle of joy laying happily in her stroller.

“Emma. I wish I never had her!”

Ms. Nelson and Ms. Avery looked at Christine in shock.

“Cause if it wasn’t for her........none of this would be happening!” Christine snapped as she began storming out of the salon.

“ _NOW YOU COUNT YOUR BLESSING, YOUNG LADY_!” Ms. Avery snapped back. “At least you can have a baby. Not all of us are that lucky, you know? Don’t go blaming your failures on someone as innocent and helpless as Emma. I know things for you right now are tough.....but they will get better. Nobody said juggling an education and raising a child would be a piece of cake, cause it’s not. It takes a lot of effort, a lot more work and a lot of hard dedication in order to succeed. Set a better example for your daughter by working harder and giving it your all. Show her that success can and will be achieved with dedication. By dropping out, what are you really teaching her? At times, failure may seem like the only option, but it doesn’t have to be......I strongly suggest you think about those correspondence courses, Christine and if you do decide, come see me before June 24 th.”

With that said, Ms. Avery made her way out, leaving Christine standing there to think about her future.

* * *

 

Louella woke with a sudden startle upon hearing the sound of sirens pulling up just outside of her house.

Getting out of bed, she headed over to the window just in time to see several trucks arriving with their lights all flashing and various firemen quickly rushing out towards the school.

Cursing under her breath, Louella quickly got dressed into her custodians uniform and headed down to see what was going on.

As she quickly walked across the street, she first off looked at the truck number to see which station had answered the call so she would know first hand just who she was dealing with.

In the recent months since the alarms had started becoming a terrible nuisance thorn in Degrassi’s side, Louella had more less began making acquaintances with practically every Toronto Fire and Emergency Service representative going.

She knew almost every Marshal, Captain, Lieutenant and Chief in every nearby station that had the unfortunate job of answering another one of Degrassi’s false alarm calls.

It certainly wasn’t something to be proud of to be truthfully honest.

Further more, many of these guys weren’t exactly friendly either.

Yeah, it’s understandable their frustrations having to answer a false alarm call, but truthfully there was absolute no need for attitude in return!

Out of all these men Louella had unfortunately encountered, only one Marshal was friendly and understandable, and thankfully on this night, it was he and his ladder that answered the call!

“Ladder 325. Oh, thank goodness! Not that Fire Marshal William would be pleased having to answer another false alarm call but at least he’s not going to tear me a new butt hole as a result like all the other guys I’ve encountered in recent months! Time to face the music through, again!” She muttered before heading up towards the school.

Just before she could walk in however, one of the firemen quickly stopped her.

“Whoa, whoa....excuse me Ma’am but you can’t go in there. We just received an activated alarm call at this address.”

“And I can assure you, Sir that everything is fine. There is no fire in there....just a nuisance alarm that doesn’t know when to stay the heck off! That’s all.” Louella replied back as she turned towards the door, but before she could walk in, the Fire Marshal was stepping out with a few other men by his side.

“Ms. Hawkins.....we meet again!”

“Good Morning to you too, Fire Marshal William.......that is, if you really want to call it that. I take it this was, yet again _ANOTHER_ false alarm?”

“I’m afraid so, but no worries. We had gone through the entire building just to make sure there was no sign of either smoke and or fire to be seen. However I do want to turn your attention to what is beside the Boiler Room door. Could you come with me, please? The rest of you boys head on back to the station!” William ordered as he began to make his way back down towards the basement with Louella Hawkins in tow.

“I know, I know....those darn containers next to the boiler room door!”  
“So, you are aware of this?”

“I’m afraid so William and I have on numerous occasions made my feelings felt towards this dangerous practice the very first day Narbo Gas Boiler Repair Emergency Service had arrived and brought their equipment into the building. Both Dan and Marianne ‘assured’ me they would be safe and fine where they are which I know for a fact they most certainly are not. Suppose there was a fire raging inside this door, just the heat alone would probably be enough to ignite and blow them up! Truth be told Sir, I don’t even have a clue as to what are even in these containers! They haven’t informed me about them or what they are supposedly used for. All I do know however is that they’re either carefully handing them around like fragile glass or carelessly whipping them around like a container of water!”

“Did you say Narbo Gas Boiler Repair Emergency Service?”

“Yes I did......why do you ask?”

Upon hearing the name, William rolled his eyes.

“Who hired them?”

“The School Board! Who else? If it were up to me, these guys would _**NOT**_ be here doing the job! I would have hired a company with a lot more confident and skill in their work than these Goofballs!”

Suddenly, Louella heard some commotion coming from upstairs and quickly excused herself to see who came rushing into the school at that hour of the morning!

“Louella, are you alright? What happened?”

It was half of her crew, Josh Thomas, Tammy Hardison, Mary Fraser, Lou Robbins and Scott Nolan.

“Yeah, everything’s fine. Just another false alarm!”

“Ms. Hawkins, I am so sorry to interrupt here, but you mind telling me how long Narbo’s been working on these repairs for?” Fire Marshal William continued to inquire as he came back up the stairs.

“Let’s see here, they arrived on June 5th but spent most of the day unpacking their equipment and ‘observing’ the issues we’ve been having which one of them you already know deals with our Fire Alarm System constantly going off for no apparent reason and having a faulty thermostat in need of replacing in our furnace. That’s what was suppose to be repaired. The following day, they were suppose to get started on the furnace, however they claimed to have found a leak in the second boiler which didn’t need any maintenance once so ever. Apart from that being the only thing ‘repaired’, they’ve been here for fourteen days straight now and truly what do they have to show for it? Nothing! William, I deeply apologize for all these chaotic false alarms! I know you guys don’t take too kindly to them, but I truly hope we can get this all sorted out as soon as possible so we can put this all behind us and not having to worry about getting anymore fines! Quite frankly, we’ve got enough as it is.......many we’re still trying to pay off today!”

“It’s no problem at all Ms. Hawkins. Sometimes these things do happen and we know you’re doing everything you can to solve this issue.”

“Thank you William....if only all the other Emergency personals here in Toronto had the same understanding and attitude as you do! Now, back to you guys. What the heck brings you all here at this hour in a frantic? It’s only 2:30 in the morning!”

“We all thought the school was on fire!” replied Tammy.

“Why would you think.....the....school......was......” Louella began, but suddenly stopped. “Guys, this may sound a little crazy but, in recent days and weeks, have you guys......been having these weird, scary nightmares as of late?”

All five custodians slowly nodded their heads in agreement just as Bruce Lawrence, Karen Avery and Daniel Raditch ran into the school.

“Oh, what a major relief! The school is thankfully still standing. When I first saw the Fire Marshal’s truck sitting out front here, I dreaded my worst nightmare had come true!” Bruce explained as he tried to catch his breath from running up the steps.

“You too, Bruce?”

“What do you mean by ‘you too’, Louella?”

“When you said ‘I dreaded my worst nightmare had come true’, I figured you too were having nightmares and terrors. My crew here just admitted they’ve all been having these weird dreams as of late of the school burning down.”

“Yes, as a matter of fact for the past few days now, I’ve been having these bizarre, scary nightmares, often times with tragic and devastating results!”

“I’ve been having those nightmares myself as well!” Daniel added in.

“Same here.....I thought I was the only one! It’s really weird.” Said Karen “I can’t even recall the last time I got a full good night’s sleep! How long has it been happening for all of you guys?”

“For me, I’ve been having nightmares ever since the arrival of Narbo’s three weeks ago!” revealed Josh. “I’ve been wanting to tell you guys for a while now, but truly just couldn’t bring myself to do so.....”

“Me too......although my nightmares began four days prior to Narbo’s arrival. Like you, I also couldn’t bring myself to admit it to you all.”

“Why not, Louella?” inquired Scott.

“Because you’d probably think I was crazy or something.”

“We wouldn’t think you were crazy, Louella.” assured Bruce.

“I knew you were hiding something a few days ago when you said ‘end of the school year jitters’. I never heard of such a thing in my entire career!” recounted Mary.

“Yeah, well I just came up with something on the fly in hopes you’d buy it and go on about your day without being concerned for my well being. Guess it fell a little short!”

“I’d say......” William laughed. “Well look folks, I’ve got to get back to the station. I do hope you’ll get this all sorted out......soon.”

“I hope so too William. Let’s just say when Narbo’s arrive first thing this morning, I’m going to be giving them an ultimatum cause truthfully I’m just as fed up with this entire situation as you guys are.”

“Uh, what kind of ultimatum are you going to give them, Hawkins?” queried Scott.

“The ultimatum is this, they either get that darn furnace fixed and our fire alarm issue solved _TODAY_ , or they can simply start packing up and get the hell out of here by Five O'clock _TONIGHT_! Right now, I could care less what the School Board has to say......it does not take three whole weeks just to replace a thermostat in the furnace. I bet if anything, that thermostat is what’s causing our fire alarms to go off.....if nothing gets done today, I’ll fire this company and hire another one confident enough to do the job right and get it finished on the day they were hired, even if it means paying for it out of my own pocket, I will! Fourteen days just to replace a thermostat in a furnace and solving a massive alarm nuisance is utterly ridiculous!!!”

William nodded as he then waved goodbye and headed out of the school towards his truck.

As soon as the Marshal left, everyone sat on the stairwell and talked about the various dreams everyone has been having for the past two weeks, all with one particular theme, the school’s sudden demise.

* * *

 

It was finally the last day of school as students quickly filed into Degrassi Junior High for the last time, eagerly excited to get their summer vacation underway.

However, there was still the case of finding out how well they had done on their final exams as well as receiving their year end report cards, cleaning out their lockers, returning long over due library books to the resource centre as well as their combination locks to Doris Bell among other last minute things that needed to be done first.

Tessa Campanelli and Scott Webster, otherwise known as Scooter had other plans though.......spending most of the day continuing their little game of tag as they swiftly ran through the hall, nearly running into a Narbo repair worker who was just about ready to head down the stairs carrying one of those Flammable Containers!

“Whoa, hey watch it kids.....this is some pretty dangerous stuff I am carrying here!” he replied as he began towards the basement.

“Sorry....” Tessa gasped as she stopped briefly to catch her breath.

Scooter finally caught up to her and tapped her shoulder before running down the hall!

“No touch backs!”

“Oh, that’s not fair Scooter!” Tessa protested as she headed off after him, causing Melanie and Caitlin to quickly head off into Mr. Raditch’s class just to get out of their way.

“I seriously cannot wait to get out of this place! Those little kids are driving me crazy.” replied Melanie as she sat down on Caitlin’s desk. “So, tell me what happened with your mom when you told her about the dance?”

“OK, so I told my mom about the dance and she said I needed a new dress, so we went out shopping!”

“Did you get anything?”

“Uh-huh! It’s so gorgeous.....just wait til you see it tonight Melanie!”

“You’re so lucky, Caitlin!”

“Why? You have a dress too.”

“Yeah, but it’s so old.....it would be nice to have something new for once. Oh, there’s Joey!!!”

Caitlin turned around in time to see Joey walk into the room and approach her desk.

“Caitlin, have I got a surprise for you at the dance!” he exclaimed as he then took his seat.

“What?”

“I’m not saying.....my lips are sealed.”

“Come on, Joey. Tell me!”

But before Caitlin could require any further, Mr. Raditch walked in.

“Greetings Scholars to your last day in Grade 8! Today we will go over the exam and talk about the Graduation ceremony procedures.....”

“Joey......Joey I want to know!” Caitlin continued in a whisper.

“Shh, Raditch. Shh.” was all Joey said as he began paying attention to the front of the class.

* * *

 

Mr. Garcia was just about to close the classroom door when Archie and Derek came running in, stopping him midway.

“Sorry....!” They both said in unison.

“That’s alright fellas, just don’t let it happen again for the rest of the year!” Mr. Garcia replied, causing the class to laugh. “Oh and Derek, I’d like for you to stay behind after class and have a word!”

“Right!” replied Snake with a smile.

“Sure....” Derek sighed as they both began towards their desks in the back of the room. “He’s going to tell me I flunked, I know it!”

“No he’s not, Wheels. Think positive!”

“I am pleased to announce that your final examination results are generally satisfactory for most of you. You all seem to do a fairly good job, some of you....have...” Mr. Garcia began to exclaim, but was suddenly interrupted by the dreaded fire alarm!

“Man, I wish they would get that alarm fixed!” Bryant Lester Thomas declared as he got up from his desk and followed his fellow classmates towards the door.

“Silence please! Leave everything on your desk and exit in an orderly fashion!” Mr. Garcia ordered as he put down his papers.

Everyone grumbled and complained as they began making their way out into the hallway towards the nearest stairwell.

“ _Attention please, the proceeding was definitely a false alarm. But I assure you that the wiring in our boiler will be repaired VERY SOON. Thank you for your patience_!” Mr. Lawrence announced.

The Ninth Graders all threw their hands up in frustration as they then returned to their seats.

“Good, that will give us the opportunity to go over things, together!”

* * *

 

Louella Hawkins just about had all she could take with that darn Fire Alarm as she angerly released the reset button and slammed the control panel door shut before storming back out of the boiler room, completely ignoring both Dan and Marianne as she was not in the mood to deal with any more of their nonsense at the moment.

“Even Bruce is getting absolutely fed up, clearly just by the sound of his voice over the PA just now.......I don’t blame him, though.” She muttered to herself as she climbed back up the stairs and began for the main office. “At least they got my ultimatum.....I know they’re not too thrilled with me right now, but I simply don’t give a darn. Two weeks for what should have been a one to two day job? No..... Doris, could you get on the phone to Superintendent Wendy Watson of the Toronto School Board? I need to inform her of what’s been going on here at Degrassi lately and to let her know by Five O'clock tonight, Narbo’s services might no longer be required.”

Doris Bell did as she was told, going through her Rolodex until she found ‘Toronto School Board’ and began dialing the number.

“Yes, this is Doris Bell calling from Degrassi Junior High School. Can I speak with our Superintendent, Wendy Watson please? OK, thank you. They put me on hold so it may be a while.......”

“Pffft, figures! Typical of the School Board, or any part of the Government really to put you on hold for who knows how long!” Louella mumbled as she then decided to have a seat nearby.

After a few minutes, Wendy finally came on the line.

“ _Hello Ms. Bell, how may I help you on this beautiful last day of school?”_

“Hello Wendy, our head custodian would like to have a word with you, if that is OK?”

“ _Yes, by all means.....I’ve been meaning to actually get an update of the goings on at Degrassi Junior High, just never actually had the time to call so yes, put her on the line if she’s near._ ”

Doris then very gingerly handed Louella the phone who had snatched it from the secretary’s hand.

“Hello Ms. Watson, this is Louella Hawkins speaking......”

“ _Hello Louella, how are you this morning? You sound very frustrated._ ”

“That’s because I am very frustrated! As of today, I’ve given your beloved hired boiler repair company an ultimatum. They have been here since June 5th. For three whole weeks, NOTHING has been done to our boiler system other than find a ‘leak’ in the second boiler. We still have a faulty thermostat in the furnace and our Fire alarms are still activating. As a matter of fact, we just had to ‘reset’ the system a few minutes ago! Even on the last day of school we simply cannot get a break!”

“ _Louella, what ultimatum did you give them exactly?”_

“I told them Wendy that they have until Five O'clock tonight to finally get our furnace fixed and our fire alarm issue solved. If not, then they can pack up their equipment and leave the property! As of tomorrow, I’ll hire my own company to get the job done right without any expense to you.”

There was silence on the other end as Wendy didn’t know what to say.

Louella continued on.

“Wendy, I am sorry but there’s only so much I can take. Today’s the last day of school and I really don’t care to spend most of my summer babysitting a bunch of untrained ‘professionals’, if you even want to call them that!”

“ _Louella Hawkins, what do you mean by ‘untrained professionals’? Of course they’re trained professionals. They wouldn’t be in this business if they hadn’t been properly trained._ ”

“Ms. Watson, we all do respect, but one of my co-workers Scott Nolan a few days ago had informed me of something very deeply disturbing..........”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


	4. Tragedy Strikes at the Graduation Dance

“For this class, that means myself, Mr. Lawrence, also a representative from the Board of Education will be there handing out the diplomas as well. I think I’ve got everything now covered in regards to the graduation ceremony. Does anyone have any questions in regards to the procedure?” Mr. Raditch finished explaining just as the bell rang to signify that school was now officially done for the year!

“Alright, that’s it for this year!! It was a pleasure to have you all in my class and uh, don’t forget your report cards are available in the main office. Doris Bell has them for you. Class dismissed!”

While some students got up from their desks to thank Mr. Raditch, Caitlin was still more less interested in finding out exactly just what Joey’s ‘surprise’ is for the dance.

“OK Joey, tell me!”

“No......chicks, you’re so impatient!” Joey replied with a laugh as Caitlin then removed his hat.

“Come on, I want to know.”

Joey playfully snatched his hat back and placed it upon his head as he and Caitlin began for the door.

“Mr. Jeremiah, could you stay behind please?” Mr. Raditch announced suddenly.

“Sure....” Joey said with a shrug as Caitlin then joined Melanie and Kathleen as they slowly made their way out of the classroom.

“I can’t believe this Kathleen. It’s officially the last day of school and you still haven’t been asked to the dance!” Melanie began.

“Well, it’s true. So what do I do? I need a date. I can’t be the only eighth grader without a date.”

“What about Yick?” Caitlin suggested.

“Hmm, not my type!”

“Oh, I know.....what about Luke?” Melanie offered.

“Melanie!!! I don’t date druggies.”

“Alright then, how’s about Arthur? I’m sure he doesn’t have anyone to go to the dance yet. Why not ask him!”

“I guess.....it’s worth a try. Aren’t you coming, Caitlin?”

“Oh, you guys go ahead, I’ll catch up. I’m going to wait for Joey.”

“Ohhhhh, OK....see you later then Caitlin!” replied Melanie as she and Kathleen then rushed to catch up with Arthur who was just about to leave school with Yick.

* * *

 

Back in Raditch’s room, Joey waited patiently as Daniel finished talking with Luke Matthews.

“I’m sure you’re well rested for the summer, you’ve slept in my class enough!”

“Yeah, I’ll be sleeping in on the weekends! See ya.” Luke patted Joey on the shoulder as he left.

“Thank you for waiting so patiently. I wanted to give you your report card personally. I know that repeating the eighth grade hasn’t been easy for you, you’ve done very, very well. I’m extremely proud of you.”

“Really?” Joey gasped as he took his report card and looked it over.

“Yes! Two A’s, four B’s and only one C.”

“I got a C?”

“Hmm-hmm, in French. But in comparison to last year, your highest mark was a C. You’ve done very well, I knew you had it in you! I’m sure your parents are going to be proud too, wait until they see this report!”

Joey let out a disappointing sigh as he began to make his way out of the classroom.

‘ _Remember our deal Joey, anything under a B and you don’t go to the dance.....we’re serious! You can’t talk your way out of this one......’_ the voice of his Mother echoed through his mind.

How would he be able to tell Caitlin the news that he would no longer be allowed to attend the dance all because he didn’t do well enough on his final report card?

Here he was for the past few days hyping up the dance, promising her surprised gifts and a perfect evening full of fun.

Now, he was about to disappoint her......... once again, as always.

As he made his way to the door, he noticed Caitlin was standing by his locker still with a smile on her face as she continued to contemplate in her mind exactly what surprise Joey had in store.

“Here goes nothing......” he mumbled to himself as he approached his locker. “Caitlin....I’m sorry. I won’t be able to go to the dance with you after all.”

Caitlin’s smile quickly disappeared.

“That’s the surprise?”

“No...no...of course not! My parents and I, we had this deal that if I got anything under a B then I don’t get to go to...”  
“You always have an excuse! You always let me down!!”

“Caitlin, it’s not an excuse......it’s a reason! Please, let me explain......”

“Forget it, Joey! I never want to see you again!!!” Caitlin cried as she then turned and headed down the stairs as quick as she could.

“Caitlin........wait!” Joey begged as he tried to stop her, but she was already gone.

Defeated, Joey went back to his locker and pounded his fist against it in anger.

“I simply can’t do anything right.....”

* * *

 

“Well Louella, it’s the moment I’m sure you and the rest of your crew have all been waiting for, we’ve finally got some good news!” replied Dan as he addressed Louella Hawkins and her crew down in the Boiler Room. “The furnace is now fixed and fully functional once again. As requested, we have replaced the thermostat and alongside it, we have also found the culprit that was constantly activating the fire alarm system. Turns out there was a very loose wire that should have been connected to the thermostat but somehow managed to unravel. You see, every time the furnace thought about ‘shutting down’ operation but decided to continue on functioning instead, the wire would then spark which would have triggered the alarms to go off, indicating an issue when there was no issue to be indicated. What we did was, we’ve solder the wire to it’s original connection so it should never happen again! Do you have any questions or concerns before we head out, Ms. Hawkins?”

“No, I don’t think so....the furnace is finally fixed and I can now breathe a sigh of relief for the upcoming school year ahead. But for now however, all I care about is getting my summer vacation underway! I appreciate you finally finishing the job and I’m sorry if I was a bit abrupt to you first thing this morning with my ultimatum. Coming off the heels of an early morning wake up call brought on by Ladder 325 with their sirens blaring.....”

“Oh, that’s quite alright. We understand your frustration with all that’s been happening the past few weeks! We here at Narbo’s like to make sure that your system is thoroughly up to date and functioning the way a healthy boiler should be functioning. We leave no stone unturned! It was a pleasure to work alongside you as well as your crew, Ms. Hawkins and we certainly hope to have your services yet again sometime in the future! Um, I hope you guys don’t mind us leaving our equipment here in the hallway for at least one more day cause we will be back again sometime tomorrow to do a thorough checkup, you know, just to make sure everything is indeed up and running the way it should be?!”

“No problem Dan, we’ll be busy getting things set up and ready for the commencement ceremony tomorrow, but the main doors will be open....just come on in and do what needs to be done!” Louella replied as she finally shook Dan’s hand.

“OK, Marianna and I are going to stop by the main office to inform your school secretary Doris Bell and Principal Bruce Lawrence about the repairs and then we’ll be on our way! Once again, thank you for your time Ms. Hawkins and have an amazing summer vacation!”

As soon as Dan and Marianna left the boiler room, Louella turned to her crew.

“You don’t really believe for one second that they had ‘thoroughly’ fixed those boilers, do you Louella?” asked Scott.

“I don’t know.....I have mixed feelings about it!”

“Louella, I have my doubts too!” added Josh. “You’re not going to stick around here tonight and wait for the dance to be over, are you?”

“Of course I am Josh. It’s a part of my job! I have lots to do before commencement tomorrow. First off, these papers have to be done and handed in by June 28th. They should have been done months ago if it hadn’t been for those darn boilers constantly getting in the way of things! Then, as soon as the dance is over, I’ve got to clean up the main lobby, stairwells, hallways and gym as well as help take down all the banners, streamers, balloons, put away the disco ball as well as set aside the tables and chairs alongside Daniel, Karen, Doris and Montgomery before calling it a night! I can’t abandon that.”

“Well, maybe it would be best if you guys held off cleaning and putting stuff away after the dance until morning......that is.....if this building.......will still.....be standing come........morning.”

“What are you talking about, Josh? Of course this building will still be standing come morning......”

“Earlier this morning.....when we brought up the subject of dreams and that all of us have been having them the past few weeks........mine apparently has a reoccurring theme to them.....they all take place on June 23rd.......Today!.........Tonight! In fact, in one of my dreams you were in this very office working on those stacks of papers when suddenly a fire broke out in the Boiler Room. You were trapped with no way out! Please Louella Hawkins, please just do us all a favour, take your paper work and do it at home.......don’t be any-where's near this place......not tonight!”

“Josh, you’re actually being serious!?”

“Yeah, Hawkins.....I am!”

“Fine.....I’ll take my paper work and sign out for the night.....but what do I tell Doris? She’s the only one who has no idea of these ‘dreams’ all of us have been having as of late. I can’t simply tell her, ‘Oh, there might be a slight possibility the school might burn down tonight! It’s a strange prophecy....don’t ask!’”

“Just tell her you’re not feeling well tonight.....simple as that!” remarked Tammy Hardison.

* * *

 

“He’s going to tell me I’ve flunked....I know it Snake!” asserted Wheels as he and Snake were the last ones in Mr. Garcia’s classroom.

“No, he’s not Wheels. He wouldn’t tell you that this late in the year.....I’ll meet you at our locker.” said Snake as he then exit the room. “Thank you for everything you taught us, Mr. Garcia.”

“You’re welcome. Have a wonderful summer vacation, Archie and all the best in Grade 10 next year.” Mr. Garcia shook Archie’s hand before closing the door.

“ _This is Mr. Lawrence speaking and I have some great news. The school furnace, which has not been functioning properly since Christmas has now been fully repairs and just in time for tonight’s Graduation Dance. Now we can all look forward to this very special event without any interruptions! Everyone have a great time and congratulations to this year’s graduates!!”_ Mr. Lawrence announced as Mr. Garcia walked over to his desk.

“I thought you’d be interested to know your marks!” he began as he pulled out one of his drawers and picked up a large envelope, handing it over to Derek who immediately opened it up and pulled out his report card.

His eyes immediately lit up!

“I passed!?”

“Scraped by would be more like it, Derek. And barely! There are three fifties. I think there’s been some generosity. Under normal circumstances, we recommend you give Grade nine another shot!”

“What do you mean, ‘give grade nine another shot’?”

“You’ve missed many classes and your behavioural record is......well, not good! But we know it’s been a difficult year for you and we think it would be in our best interest if you stayed with your peers!”

“So, did I pass?”

“You passed. Congratulations Der.....whoa...”  
“Great! Oh, thanks a lot Mr. Garcia!” Wheels cheered as he hugged Mr. Garcia then rushed for the door. “Snake......Snake........thanks again, this is great!!! SNAKE.....SNAKE WAIT UP! SNAKE, SLOW DOWN MAN.....I PASSED!!!”

“You passed?” Snake asked as Wheels ran up to him.

“Yeah, I passed! This is so cool.....Grade 10 here we come!” Wheels beamed as he and Snake high-fived each other. “At first I thought I was going to end up like Joey, you know? Be held back a Grade, right? Then Mr. Garcia went on and on about how I should give Grade nine another shot because I had missed many classes and that my behavioural record isn’t good.....but then he mentions that this has been a rather difficult year for me, which it has and that it would be in my best interests to stay with you guys! Nearly gave me a heart attack when he said that.”

“Speaking of Joey.....I wonder if he passed this year?”

“Pffff, Joey.......knowing him, he’ll probably be stuck in Mr. Raditch’s class forever!!!”

* * *

 

“Hi Mom, I’m home.” Joey announced dejectedly as he entered the house to find his Mom was in the process of preparing dinner.

“Did you get your report card?” She asked with a smile on her face which quickly disappeared as soon as she saw her son’s face.

“Yes....guess I’m not going to the dance after all.” he mumbled as he took off his jacket and hat, placing the jacket on the chair and the hat down on the table along with the report card before heading over to the counter to chop vegetables.

Mrs. Jeremiah went to pick up the report card, sitting down to have a look.

“Joey, two A’s? This is wonderful......you never gotten an A before.”

“Pfff, lot of good that does me. I got a C.......in French. When I told Caitlin, she got mad at me....like I did it on purpose or something.”

“I think you might still get to the dance.....go talk to your father.”

“But Mom, what about our deal? I got a C.”

“Joey, we didn’t do this to punish you......we wanted you to try your best.”

“Really?”

“I think we can convince him!”

“Thanks Mom......there’s someone I have to call.....that is, if she’ll even talk to me.” Joey went to the phone and began dialing Caitlin’s number.

“I’m so proud of you.....two A’s!”

“Hi, can I speak to Caitlin please?”

* * *

 

Doris Bell was in the process of finally finishing up Mr. Lawrence’s figures when Louella suddenly walked into the office.

“Louella? I don’t recall Bruce calling you into the office, is there something you need?”

“No Doris, I’m actually going to call it a night and head out. I’ve got my paperwork with me so that’ll keep me busy throughout.....I just don’t feel right hanging out in the boiler room tonight, that’s all. Tell Karen, Montgomery and Daniel not to worry about cleaning up after the dance. My crew and I will be in first thing tomorrow morning around Five o’clock to get stuff done and set up in time for the commencement.”

“Louella, this isn’t like you.....at all. Is there something you’re not telling me?”

“All I can say is, just.......just keep your eyes, ears and nose peeled tonight, alright? I don’t really know exactly but I.......have this really bad feeling about tonight.....please, if anything bad should go down.....just get out unscathed.”

Doris watched as Louella left the office, completely puzzled by what she had just said.

“Just keep my eyes, ears and nose peeled, for what exactly?”

“Alright Doris.....I’m heading out for the night! I assure everything will go smoothly for tonight’s dance?” Mr. Lawrence addressed as he came out of his office to sign out.

“Yeah....Oh, Louella just came in here and signed out....saying she’s going to do her paper work at home instead of hanging out in the boiler room tonight. I find that rather weird cause it’s not really like her to leave her post when there are still things to do. She said she will be in first thing tomorrow morning at Five o’clock sharp along with her crew.”

“Maybe she’s not feeling well, perhaps. As long as we get everything done in time for commencement tomorrow, I’m sure we’ll be alright. OK, Ms. Bell? Alright, I will see you tomorrow morning around Nine o’clock. Have a great time at the dance tonight.”

“Thank you, Sir.....and good night. See you tomorrow morning!”

Mr. Lawrence headed towards the main doors and stepped out into the brisk summer air only to find Louella standing by the sidewalk looking up at the building.

“Louella, is everything OK? Doris just informed me you’re heading home for the night.”

“Yeah Bruce.....I’m fine......I just got a bad feeling about tonight, that’s all. Josh encouraged me not to stick around, in case something.......bad..........does happen.”

“But Narbo’s had fixed up the boilers, did they not? Dan and Marianne were just in my office making the announcement.”

“They did.....but right now many of us have our doubts......anyway, I’ve got to go....I’ll see you either tomorrow or later on tonight.”

As Louella began across the street, Bruce stood there puzzled for a moment but then he remembered earlier that morning about the dreams everyone admitted to having in the past few weeks.

“Those dreams everyone said they had......are they actually........a prophecy?”

Bruce now glanced up at the building, wondering if this may be the last time he sees it fully standing.

“I hope and pray nothing goes wrong tonight......I really, truly do.”

* * *

 

Music was now blaring through the walls of Degrassi Junior High School as the Graduation Dance got underway at Six o'clock.

Students from the Seventh Grade all the way up to the Ninth began to arrive, some wearing their formal best while others basically came wearing jeans and a nice sweater either alone or with that special certain someone they managed to ask out for a date.

Melanie stood outside the boys’ washroom waiting for her date to come back out, fixing up her hair when she heard Lorraine Delacorte and Derek Wheeler coming down the hall.

“The dance should be fun.” said Lorraine.

“Yeah, I hope it is.” Derek replied as he began to take off his jacket.

“I like your outfit! I can’t believe we’re both wearing green.”

“I know.....you look pretty good through.”

“Thanks, so do you. Hi, Melanie!”

“Hey guys....” Melanie replied.

“Where’s Snake?”

“He’s in the washroom....should be out shortly.”

“I see....”

Just as Melanie mentioned it, Snake stepped out.

“Hey! Lookin’ good Wheels! Alright.....oh, I didn’t know you two were an item?” Snake addressed as he gave Wheels a special handshake.

“We’re friends!” Lorraine laughed.

“Yeah, sure. Secret affair, huh?”

“Funny Snake.....I hope you had washed your hands prior to giving that handshake!” chuckled Wheels.

“Of course I did!” Snake implied as he looked at his hands.

Everyone began to laugh as Joey walked through the door holding a bouquet of flowers.

“Hey guys!” he announced.

“Hi, Joey.” Melanie, Wheels and Lorraine replied.

“Hey, Joey! Flowers for me......I didn’t know you cared!” jested Snake.

“Funny, Snake.....Um, have any of you guys seen Caitlin? I told her I’d be here so I hope she shows up.”

“No, I don’t think she’s here yet but I’m sure she’ll turn up.” said Melanie.

“So, you guys wanna go dance?” Lorraine asked.

Wheels, Snake and Melanie all agreed and offered Joey to join them.

“No....you guys go ahead, I’m going to wait out here.”

“Alright, we’ll see you in there!” Wheels declared as they made their way to the gym.

Joey watched as they left before turning back towards the doors waiting for Caitlin.

* * *

 

Inside the gym, everyone was on the dance floor having the time of their lives, except for Tessa Campanelli and Scott Webster who were minding the refreshments table.

“Dancing is so dumb.” Scooter replied, as he watched the other kids dancing.

“Yeah, but still, it’s good aerobic exercise.” Tessa declared.

“You know what else is good aerobic exercise?”

“What?”

Scooter tapped Tessa on the shoulder then went over to the other side of the table.

“You’re it....and you have to stay it all evening cause you have to stay here!”

“Says who?”

“Says me!”

Tessa immediately gave chase as Scooter began to run towards the gym doors, but as they weaved between the dancers, they accidentally bumped into Heather who then spilled her drink all over Erica’s dress.

“Ahhh, watching it you stupid little kids!” Heather shouted.

“My dress!!!” Erica cried.

“Patience guys, this is our last day here. Bye-bye Degrassi Junior High!” exclaimed Lucy.

“Can’t wait! To think.....after today, no more dealing with these stupid, immature little kids! Oh, I hope this doesn’t leave a permanent stain, I love this dress!”

“Sorry Erica......”

“It’s not your fault, Heather.......”

Scooter and Tessa finally made their way out of the gym and ran down the hall towards the stairwell where Joey still stood waiting for Caitlin.

“You can’t outrun me!” Scooter gasped as he ran past Joey, startling him.

“Wanna bet, Scooter?!” panted Tessa.

Joey shook his head as he watched the immature kids run up the stairs, narrowly avoiding Caitlin who had just arrived.

Realizing he still held the flowers out in the open where she could see them, he quickly placed them behind his back and immediately held the door open for her as she descended down the stairs.

“Hi, Joey.”

“Hi. I’m really glad you’re here!” Joey said with a smile. “Oh, these are for you.”

“Thanks.”

“ _Alright, hi everyone and welcome to the Degrassi Junior High Graduation Dance. Are you all having a good time?”_ Mr. Raditch announced from the gym. “ _We all want you to have a good time, make sure you’re all out there dancing, don’t let anyone stand by themselves so let’s all have some fun. OK, Mr. Garcia, this next song is for you_!”

“So, do you want to go dance or something?” Joey asked.

“Sure...I’d love to!”

Joey wrapped his arm around Caitlin as they began for the gym.

“You look beautiful tonight! I hope you’re not still mad at me?”

“No, in fact.....I want to apologize for how I had acted.....”

“No Caitlin.....I should be the one apologizing to you......I should have told you about my parents’ deal in regards to the dance.”

* * *

 

Three hours had past and the dance was still going on strong as Christine Nelson and Liz O’ Rourke arrived.

“Welcome Christine and Liz.....have a good time tonight!” Doris addressed as they walked into the gym.

“Thanks Doris. I’ve got to find Ms. Avery.....” Christine stated to Liz as they looked all over the gym.

“There she is, over by the DJ table. Good luck, tell me what happens, OK?” Liz pointed out.

Christine nodded as she approached Ms. Avery.

“Ms. Avery?”

“Spike, hello!”

“Hi, um, are you going to be here tomorrow? Do you think I could drop by and pick up some correspondence forms?”

“Yes, I’ll be here tomorrow and good for you. It’s going to be hard, but I know you can do it!”

“Thanks.”

Mr. Raditch stopped the music again to address the crowd once more.

“Um, can I have your attention please? I believe that some of you are graduating here tonight! We think that some of you might even miss this place.....and we’d like to dedicate this next song to all of the grads, so grab that special someone and enjoy this moment.”

A very slow, romantic number began to play as single students stepped aside, handing the dance floor over to all the couples as they got closer, wrapping their arms around one another and slowly moved about with the music.

“ _ **Wonder, where our world is heading for. The future, is filling us with fear. We stumbled, in a pit too deep this time. We don’t know, if we’ll make it out. Still, there’s a way where there’s a will are you ready to try? Let our love lead us, on with those Burning Torches of Hope. Could they ever lead us astray? Don’t let them defeat us, we’re on our own oasis of joy. No, don’t let it be swept away. Oh no.** ”_

Alexa snuggled up closer to Simon while Joey and Caitlin snuck a few kisses on the cheek as they slowly swerve back and forth.

Wheels and Lorraine danced close with Michelle and Bryant Lester Thomas, who suddenly looked up and saw someone had entered the gym, someone who nobody thought would ever return to Degrassi.

“Hey, look who’s back? Wheels, it’s Shane!” he announced.

Everyone nearby stopped dancing and watched as Shane hobble into the gym with a walker and Luke Matthews by his side.

Two months ago, Shane had gone to a concert with Luke and took acid for the first time.

He never came home.

Weeks had past before someone had found him, below a bridge, barely clinging to life.

He had spent most of the remaining school year in hospital recovering in I.C.U. and now here he was making his return at the graduation dance.

“Um, it’s really good to see you Shane. I.....I hope you have a good time tonight, OK?” Doris replied as she put a boutonniere on Shane’s sweater.

Luke carefully lead Shane to the nearest table and sat down.

* * *

 

“You know I’ll never catch you, right?” huffed Scooter as he and Tessa continued their game of tag.

“Yeah right! I meant that when I said it!!” replied Tessa.

“Right.”

As they chased each other around the doorway, the fire alarm began to go off.

“Not again.......it’s probably just another false alarm......so your it!” Tessa sighed as she tagged Scooter and began back up the stairs.

Scooter ran after her and tagged her back, running towards the basement.

“You’re not going to catch me!!!”

“Oh, yeah? Got you!”

“Got you back!”

“Scooter, do you smell smoke?”

“Yeah.....but, where is it coming from?”

Tessa looked up at the lights in the ceiling while Scooter paid attention to the floor.....then it caught his eye.

“Tessa, look.....under the boiler room door.”

Tessa approached the door and put a hand to the knob.

“Ow, it’s hot!”

“Uh, if the door is hot Tessa, I don’t think it would be a good idea to open it.....”

Tessa ignored Scooter’s warning however and opened it anyway, revealing a massive raging inferno.

The Boiler Room was on fire and to make matters worse, the boilers were still running!

“Oh my God.....Scooter....w-what sh-should w-we do?”

“We start warning people, that’s what we do. FIRE! FIRE!!” Scooter screamed as he and Tessa immediately bolted up the stairs towards the gym.

 

 

 

Author's Note: Lyrics for Burning Torches of Hope belong to Gowan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


	5. The Fire: Part One

“Somebody, help!” Tessa cried as she and Scooter ran towards the gym.

Two kids were standing outside of the gym talking when they heard Tessa’s cry for help.

“What’s wrong?” one kid asked.

“Guys, there’s a fire right down there.” Tessa told them.

“Yes, listen to the fire alarm.” Scooter said frantically.

“Yeah, sure....” the other kid replied with sarcasm, not believing a word that was being said. “I don’t see anything down there!”

“You _can_ see it. Please, listen to the alarm. Come on! Guys, there’s a fire! We’ve got to get out!!”

Tessa and Scooter then went into the gym to warn the other students, hoping they would believe them and begin the evacuations.

They went up to Lorraine, Wheels, Melanie and Snake next to tell them.

“Guys, there’s a fire. We’ve got to get out!”

“Oh guys.....just give it a rest, alright? Go and dance or something!” jeered Wheels.

“Yeah. Go dance you guys!” added Snake. “Come on!”

“No....we’re serious! Why doesn’t anyone believe us.....” Scooter whined as they then approached Heather, Erica and Lucy.

Like all the other students, they too also didn’t believe them as well.

“Nobody believes us, Tessa. What are we going to do now?” asked Scooter.

“We tell Mr. Raditch. He’ll believe us....come on! We don’t have much time.” said Tessa as she then approached the DJ table. “Mr. Raditch! Mr. Raditch, there’s a fire! Listen, turn off the music and you can hear the alarms.”

“Are you two serious? You’re not joking?” Ms. Avery, who stood nearby questioned the two frantic kids.

“We’re not joking, no. It’s true, please believe us. It’s down in the Boiler Room......there are flames everywhere....... Tessa and I were just down there and we saw it......please, we need to evacuate immediately before it’s too late!” stated Scooter.

Mr. Raditch turned off the music to find the fire alarms were indeed active.

Many students moaned and booed upon hearing them go off, but it was short lived when some began to address the smell of smoke.

“They are being serious...look! We’ve now got smoke coming into the gym.” Montgomery Garcia announced as he pointed towards the gym’s main entrance.

“Alright folks, may I have your attention please......it’s the fire alarm. Can everyone please exit by the fire doors? Quietly and calmly as possible.” Mr. Raditch advised.

Joey turned to Caitlin and told her he would go get her jacket before rushing out of the gym.

“Joey, I didn’t bring a.........jacket!” she addressed, but it was too late.

He was already out of the gym and making his way towards the stairwell.

Unbeknownst to him, he was about to walk straight into danger.

Down in the Boiler Room, the fire had spread out towards the door and into the hallway where those containers of unknown flammable sat.

As Joey placed his hand upon the handle of the door to pull it open................KABOOM!

An explosion suddenly took place, sending Joey flying thirty feet away from the door, hitting the floor hard with a sickening thud and knocking him out cold.

Another explosion happened shortly after that, followed by a third.....each more powerful and destructive than the last, shaking the entire foundation of Degrassi Junior High School as well as the surrounding areas around Degrassi Street.

The explosions were so powerful that it grabbed Louella Hawkins’ attention as she stopped what she was doing and quickly went towards her living room window to see just what was going on across the road.

“Oh my good God almighty! Am I really seeing this, or am I having another nightmare?” She asked herself as she then rushed towards the front door to have a better look, grabbing her phone on the way just in case.

She ran out onto her porch just in time to see the gym’s fire doors swing open and students running out, screaming for their lives.

“OH MY GOD, IT’S BURNING DOWN! HEATHER?” she heard one of the twins scream for her sister.

In the building, she could see flames both in the boiler room and in the main lobby, raging out of control and spreading quite rapidly.

This was no dream.....this was actually real!

Louella quickly dialed 911.

“ _911, what is your emergency?_ ”

“Yes, we have a fire taking place at Degrassi Junior High School, 68, Degrassi Street!”

“ _OK, are you sure this is the real deal? This isn’t_ _just_ _another false alarm or prank, is it_? _Cause in the past few weeks, we have had several calls to that particular address_.......”

“No.....I swear, this is really happening this time. We have actual flames shooting out from practically everywhere.....please hurry.”

“ _Alright,_ _alright Ma’am,_ _just_ _calm down,_ _OK_ _._ _W_ _hat is your name_?”

“It’s Louella, Louella Hawkins. I am the head custodian of Degrassi Junior High School. We just recently had our boilers fixed this afternoon and......Oh my God, the fire has now spread into an upstairs classroom.....please hurry. We have a graduation dance going on as we speak right now...... and I have no idea if everyone has evacuated out of the building or not!”

“ _OK,_ _OK_ _Ms. Hawkins....please_ _try to_ _remain calm and we’ll send some_ _body_ _out as soon as possible. Can you stay on the line_ _with us_?”

“I’m afraid not....I have to go over there and see if everyone is OK and accounted for. Please, just get here as quick as you can.....please?”

As soon as Louella hung up, the dispatcher disconnected the call just as Fire Marshal William walked in to get some information.

“Degrassi Junior High School again, huh? Is this another false alarm or.......”

“I’m afraid not, William. Not this time.......it’s not every day that the head custodian calls in a frantic.”

For a second, William was like a deer caught in headlights before he immediately rushed toward his truck, barking orders towards his crew to hurry up as he hopped into the drivers seat.

“Come on guys.....we actually have a real emergency this time going on at Degrassi. We’ve got no time to waste. Let’s go, move!”

As the men quickly hopped aboard themselves, the truck slowly began to move out of the station onto Dundas Street with sirens wailing and flashing onward towards Degrassi Street.

* * *

 

“OH MY GOD!” Ms. Avery screamed as she began to flee from the gym along with the other students.

“Montgomery, you, Doris and Karen head on out of here and make sure everyone is safe and accounted for......don’t let anyone come back inside for anything, got it?....I’ll go see if there’s anyone out in the hall.......” Mr. Raditch ordered as he began to make his way out of the gym into the smoke filled hallway.

At first, he thought he saw someone heading towards the door and yelled for them to stop as he quickly approached whoever it was, but as he got closer, he realized that someone was actually on the floor not moving and unresponsive.

He knelt down and carefully rolled the unconscious body towards him, realizing it was none other than Joey Jeremiah himself.

“Oh my goodness, Joey!.........Joey? Joey come on, wake up...........come on, Joey. Wake up........please?” Mr. Raditch begged as he immediately checked for any signs of life.

Thankfully, Joey was still breathing and had a pulse.

“Joey.......Joey come on!” he continued to carefully shake Joey’s unconscious form until he finally began to stir.

“Mr. R-Raditch? Wh-what’s.......what’s going on? What happ.....ened? Oh my, is this......is this really happening? Is the school......real-really on fire? Am I seeing things?” Joey asked, trying to regain his surroundings.

“I’m afraid so Joey.......and we have to get out of here, now. Are you OK? Can you stand up on your own? Here, let me help you get back up on your feet again.....easy, easy......OK. Are you alright to walk?”

“Yeah....I, I think so......I’m f-f-feeling a little bit d-d-dizzy at the m-moment and my vision’s a b-bit blur-blurry but I’m O-OK. Let’s g-get out of here. This s-smoke is r-really starting to g-get to m-me.”

As Joey began back towards the gym, he stumbled a bit causing Mr. Raditch to quickly wrap an arm around Joey’s waist and proceeded to help him towards the fire doors.

* * *

 

“Doris, is everybody out and accounted for?” Louella inquired as she approached the shocked crowd of students and staff members all standing outside the burning building.

“I....I don’t know....I th-think so.” Doris replied with a stutter, too shocked to actually talk.

“What do you mean, ‘you think so’? Do you not take attendance records during special school events?”

“Is everybody out?” Mr. Raditch asked as he finally exited the building along with Joey. “You better go find Caitlin, Joey. Let her know you’re alright!”

Joey nodded as he quickly began searching through the crowd of people, looking for Caitlin while Daniel ran up to Doris Bell and Louella Hawkins.

“Doris, have you done an official head count yet?”

“No Daniel, I haven’t.....I’m in too much shock right now....I can’t even think straight.”

“Doris, you better hope to _GOD_ everyone is out of this building. I don’t think I can live with myself knowing someone had perished in this horrific blaze.” replied Louella, shaking her head in disbelief.

Suddenly, the sound of someone pounding on the glass caught all three staff members’ attention as they frantically looked around, wondering where exactly it was coming from.

“Oh my DEAR GOD.....DANIEL, DORIS, LOOK! UP THERE IN THE MIDDLE WINDOW, ABOVE THE DOORWAY!!!” Louella announced as she pointed up. “Those kids are trapped! We’ve got to do something. We just can’t leave them up there!”

“Louella, I think it would be best if we just left it up to the professionals....I’m sure the fire department is on their way as we speak........”

“Doris, the closest ladder is about six minutes away. I don’t think we have that much time! Someone has to go in there and get them out!”

With that said, Louella quickly rushed towards the gym fire doors and ran inside the school.

“LOUELLA!!!” Doris screamed as she followed suit, trying to stop the janitor from making a grave mistake. “Louella? Louella Hawkins......get out of there.......LOUELLA, YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOING! YOU’RE PUTTING YOUR LIFE IN DANGER........Oh my God.....LOUELLA!!!”

Montgomery, Karen and Daniel also saw Louella rush into the building and quickly joined Doris by the fire doors to stop her from going in as well.

“Guys, we can’t just leave her in there.......we have to do something!”

“Doris......there’s really nothing more we can do at this point. She made the choice to go in there, putting her life on the line. All we can do is pray that she’ll make it back out again, alive!” Daniel replied. “Right now however, our priorities are with these kids........come on, we’ve got a job to do to keep them safe. When the fire department gets here, we’ll let them know that Louella Hawkins has ran inside the building.”

* * *

 

Once inside the school, Louella couldn’t believe just how much damage had already been done to the building.

The stairwell was completely engulfed in flames, making it practically impossible to get through, but she knew she had to take that risk in order to get up to the second floor and get those kids trapped up there to safety as soon as humanly possible.

Gaining enough confidence and bravery, she ran as fast as she could towards the stairwell, jumping over the glass window that had shattered due to the explosion, nearly slipping on the shards that now covered the floor and began up the stairs.

Flames licked Louella’s body as she rushed past the raging inferno towards the second flight of stairs.

As she got to the third and final flight, she immediately stopped dead in her tracks as she felt the entire floor literally shift right underneath her feet.

She cursed under her breath as she held on for dear life to the banister.

“Oh, that’s not a good sign......the structure’s weakened which means I don’t have much time left in here. I better get these kids out before it’s too late......it might already be too late!”

She quickly managed to get up the final set of stairs and ran down the hall towards the room she hoped the kids were in and opened the door.

“Alright guys, come on.....let’s go!” Louella ordered as she counted how many kids there were inside the room. “Just eight of you? Nobody else is up here?”

The kids all nodded as they quickly left the room they were in and stood in front of Louella in the hallway.

“What are you kids doing up here anyway? You guys should have been downstairs either in the hallway or in the gym......the upstairs is completely off.......limits.”

A flash of light caught the corner of Louella’s eye as flames suddenly burst out through the windows below downstairs, lightening up the darkened hallway in a sick, horrible, orange glow.

“Alright, I want you all to listen to my instructions and follow very close, OK? I’m going to get you guys out of here!”

The eight kids all nodded as Louella then quickly lead them towards the left hand side stairwell.

“OK now, just remain calm and try not to breathe in too much of the smoke....as a matter of fact, I think it would be best if you all covered your nose and mouth with your hands......we’re going to begin descending down these stairs very carefully, alright? Let’s go.”

One step at a time, Louella and the kids carefully made their way down to the main floor of the school.

“The smoke’s becoming thicker.” one of the kids cried. “It’s getting harder to see where we’re going cause it feels like it’s burning my eyes.”

“I know the smoke is getting thicker......but please do not panic, whatever you do, OK? We’re almost on the main floor. Just a few more steps to go......alright. Let’s do another head count to make sure I have all of you.....and I do. OK, listen up. I know we really don’t have much time left being in here, but I need to go into the main office to get something for Ms. Avery, alright? What I need you all to do for me is to stay put at this exact spot! _DO NOT_ wander off, _DO NOT_ go back upstairs, _DO NOT_ venture down the stairs, OK? I won’t be long.......I promise. I’ll be back as soon as I can!” Louella replied as she then quickly headed towards the office.

Upon entering the room, she quickly looked around at all the walls, ceiling and floor, trying to estimate just how much time she actually has in there before it too goes up in flames like the rest of the school.

“Shoot, this room looks about ready to combust.....but I need to get those Correspondence Forms for Ms. Avery. I know she’s probably going to need them for Christine after getting those lousy marks. Getting them through the School Board would probably take about a week or so...a week we simply don’t have........I know what I’m doing is a majorly stupid thing to do, putting my life, not to mention those eight children’s lives on the line for a messily few papers but I got to do what I got to do! For Christine’s sake!! Now, where exactly does Doris keep those Correspondence Forms?”

* * *

 

“How long has it been since Louella ran in there?” Doris asked as she frantically checked her watch while Montgomery, Daniel and Karen tried to keep everyone back away from the burning building.

“I believe she’s been in there for about four minutes now. Does anyone know if someone had called the fire department?” wondered Karen.

“I believe Louella said it would take the nearest Ladder nearly six minutes to arrive. Not sure if she was the one to call them or not......but if that’s really the case, this whole entire building will be gone by that time and Louella.......Louella and whoever else is trapped in there with her will be..........OH DEAR GOD, I DON’T EVEN WANT TO THINK ABOUT THAT!”

“Doris, get a hold of yourself. Don’t panic, alright? Don’t even think about the what if’s and could have’s. I’m sure Louella is safe......she’s probably some-where's in the back making her way round to the front of the building by now!” affirmed Montgomery.

“I hope you’re right, Montgomery.”

“Where’s Joey?” Caitlin cried suddenly, realizing Joey was no where’s to be seen.

“You don’t know where he is?” Snake gasped.

“No, I don’t. He said he was going to go get my jacket....but I never came with a jacket! He left before I got the chance to tell him that......Mr. Raditch? Mr. Raditch, have you seen Joey?”

“He hasn’t found you yet? I got him out of the building safely and told him to look for you!” Mr. Raditch replied as he then began to call out Joey’s name. “JOEY? JOEY, WHERE ARE YOU?”

Joey could hear his name being called by both Mr. Raditch and Caitlin and quickly ran to the source of their voices.

“EVERYBODY, STAY BACK! NOBODY GET TOO CLOSE!” warned Wheels.

“Stay calm everyone, stay calm........please, stay calm.” Ms. Avery addressed.

“Where’s Joey? Where’s Joey?” Caitlin cried again just as Joey appeared from behind.

“I’m right here, Caitlin.”

The two immediately embraced.

“I’m so glad you’re alright, Joey. I’m so glad you’re alright!”

“I’m OK, Caitlin......everything is OK.”

“Are we alright over here?” Mr. Garcia asked.

“Where are the fire trucks? Why aren’t they doing something?” Kathleen began to cry.

“Can you believe this!?” Arthur mumbled.

“It’s in our classroom.......it’s in our classroom! Bryant.....oh my God, our classroom is on fire!” cried Michelle.

“The smoke is so heavy!” Spike replied as she waved a hand over her face.

“Yeah, there’s so much smoke.......” added Liz, now covering her nose and mouth with her hand.

Everyone began to cough now because of how thick the smoke was becoming.

“Where do we go to school? Oh my gosh, I’m really going to miss this school!” cried Tessa.

“It’s a good thing we got everyone out when we did!” replied Scooter.

Faintly in the distance, the sound of sirens began to fill the air, much to the relief of the students as well as the staff.

“Finally, it’s about time they showed up!” Doris replied with a sigh of relief as several trucks began pulling in onto the scene, all of them from Ladder 325.

As Fire Marshal William hopped out of the truck....Doris frantically rushed over to let him know that Louella Hawkins had ran inside the building and hasn’t come out yet.

“Alright Ms. Bell, alright.......try to calm down OK? How long has she been in there for?”

“I believe it’s now been six, maybe seven minutes......tops!”

“Six to seven minutes??? OK, OK Ms. Bell, I can’t really promise anything at this moment and time but we’re going to do everything we can to hopefully find her and get her out to safety, alright? Is there anyone else in there with her?”

“Yeah, eight kids were trapped up on the second floor. Louella has managed to get to them, but now I have no idea where in the building they may be at this point......I am hoping and praying they’re somewhere on the left hand side by now away from the smoke and flames.”

“For your sake, I’m hoping so too.....alright Degrassi staff and students, listen up! I’m going to have to ask you all to safely vacate over to the other side of the street where it is much safer. It’s getting way too dangerous for you all to be standing here breathing in all this smoke and taking in this massive heat, OK!? Let’s get that pumper going.....Mike, get that hose over here!!! We need to start attacking this thing head on and try to get it under control at least....”

“OK William, but what about the people that could be trapped inside? Do you think we should get a crew in there to look for them?” Mike asked.

“No.....at this moment it is way too dangerous! If we were to open a door or simply break open a window, we’ll trigger a backdraft, putting everyone’s lives in danger! What we need to do first is to knock these flames down somewhat before we can attempt to get into this building safely! Alright, let’s move it Boys!!”

* * *

 

Louella knew she was totally running out of time as she now scurried through various files and documents, still trying to find those Correspondence Forms.

“Those forms.........have got to.........be around here...........somewhere......it’s just a case........of finding them! We’ve got so many files...........and folders in these..........filing cabinets.”

Finally, she stumbled across a folder that had the words ‘Correspondence’ written on a tab and pulled out a sheet of paper, hoping that was the only one she needed as she quickly folded it up and placed it in her shirt pocket before turning around.

The entire room was pitch black with smoke as flames were now literally ripping through the walls and ceiling.

Even the floor began to feel quite spongy under Louella’s feet.

Carefully, she began to take gingerly steps back towards the entrance of the office, silently hoping the floor doesn’t suddenly give way on her.

As she hopped up onto Doris’ chair and then stepped onto the front desk, it was as though time suddenly began to run in slow motion as she gave one gigantic leap, flying out of the office door just as it burst into flames.

The floor also gave way at that point, literally swallowing everything in a massive, flaming gulp.

“LOUELLA?!” the eight kids screamed, wanting to come near to see if she was alright, but she quickly told them all to stay where they were as she quickly got back up on her feet again and brushed herself off.

“Alright guys, we truly need to get out of here, NOW! Come on, follow me this way!” she ordered as she quickly got in front of the children and lead them down the stairwell into the left hand side of the building.

As soon as everyone was safely down in the hallway, Louella immediately yet very carefully closed the doors in hopes of keeping the toxic smoke and flames at bay as she now tried to figure out exactly how she was going to get everyone out of the building safely without triggering some kind of dangerous reaction that would quickly put her and the trapped students at risk!

“So, how are we going to get out of here?” one of the kids asked.

“I-I don’t know....that’s what I’m trying to figure out right now.” Louella replied, her voice still a bit shaky from what had just taken place not to long ago.

“Why can’t we just go out these doors here?” another child suggested.

“NO......we can’t. As of right now, those flames have taken out every ounce of oxygen in this building. If we were to break open a window or simply open a door to the outside from here, it would quickly re-introduce oxygen into those flames, causing them to expand and spread at a rapid rate. We would immediately be engulfed in a ginormous fireball, either severely injuring or killing us all instantly. I simply cannot take that risk......it’s one of the reason why I quickly but carefully closed these two doors here behind us to keep both the smoke and heat out while we figure out a way to get out of here.”

Louella then spotted at the end of the hallway a tiny storage area that she and her crew used to store many of the school’s toiletries and supplies, however the windows and door leading out of the building were blocked with metal shelving units, floor buffers, brooms, mops, various signs and non-working vacuum cleaners.

“I got an idea.....alright kids, I want you all to stay to one side of the hallway here while I go into this storage room and start clearing it out. This is the only room in the building that has yet to be affected with the heat and technically, it’s our only escape route. Wait right here and do not move from this spot......”

Just as Louella made her way to the end of the hallway, the power suddenly went out, causing the kids to scream in horror.

“OK, OK you guys, calm down alright.....it’s just a little power outage. We’ll be fine! I’m sure the backup generators will come on.........very.........shortly. Oh-no, that.....is.... _SO_....not......good!”

As quick as the power went out, it came right back on again with a rather nasty surprise.

Every single light fixture and wall outlet began sparking and smoking up a storm.

“Great, just what we need on top of everything else that’s going on right now....a darn electrical fire! Now we really got to move, quick!!!”

“Louella.....what has caused the lights and outlets to start acting out like this?”

“Could be one of two things kids, either the flames have gotten into the fuse box and has burned the main connection, or the fire fighters outside have spread water onto the flames which has leaked through the walls and into the fuse box, causing all the lights and outlets to short out.” She replied as she quickly began to clear out the room......making sure nothing was in the children’s way. “Don’t worry about a thing though.....OK? We’ll be just fine. Why on earth did we keep these old, worn out, nonworking vacuum cleaners? Should have thrown them out on the spot!”

* * *

 

“ _We interrupt this regularly scheduled program for some late breaking news. Here now, is Peter Mansbridge.”_ a sudden announcement came over the TV as Tammy Hardison, Lou Robbins, Gregory Jackson and Scott Nolan sat on the couch at Josh Thomas’ place while Mary Fraser and Josh hung out in the kitchen finishing up the dishes.

After they all got off work, Josh decided it would be best if everyone who lived nearby the school stayed over at his place, just in case they were quickly needed, they would be on hand should the inevitable happen.

Upon hearing those words of ‘breaking news’ over the TV, Josh silently hoped it wasn’t what he was thinking of.

“ _Good Evening. We here at CBC studios have just received word that Degrassi Junior High School, located in the City’s Riverside Neighbourhood is on fire. Resources on scene right now have told us a graduation dance was well underway when the fire erupted and several explosions have been heard. Many of the occupants have safely evacuated_ _out of_ _the building however, it is unclear at this time what may have caused the fire or for how long it has been burning unnoticed as fire crews from Ladder 325 are_ _now on scene_ _battling the blaze. We have also received word that eight children_ _at this moment and time_ _are trapped somewhere within the building alongside one of the building’s maintenance managers Louella Hawkins, who had ran inside the building_ _trying to help.......”_

“Oh my good God almighty......” Mary whispered as she stopped what she was doing and quickly headed into the living room. “Did I just hear what I think I just heard?”

“I’m afraid so, Mary.” Gregory muttered as they continued to listen in to the breaking news report.

“ _We will remain here live for as long as we need to, covering this breaking story and giving you all further information as we get it here in our studios. If you have just joined us....._ _a fire has broken out at Degrassi Junior High School_ _...._ ”

* * *

 

“Louella.......do you hear that?” one of the kids suddenly asked as all eight children began looking towards the stairwell.

“Do I hear what exactly, kids?” Louella pondered as she came out of the storage room carrying a rather large box of toilet paper.

She placed it down with the rest of the stuff she had managed to get out of the room then slowly began heading back towards the stairwell doors.

“That hissing sound........where is it coming from?” another kid asked.

“Yeah, I hear it now too. This means not all of the containers down in the basement had exploded, there’s still that cylinder left and...........oh dear God almighty! Alright kids, I want everyone to quickly head into the storage room......NOW!”

“Louella, I’m getting scared!” another kid cried as they all quickly scrambled into the tiny room.

“Just stay calm, OK? Stay calm and do not panic......” Louella ordered as she rushed back into the room, grabbing the now vacant steal metal shelf and throwing it out the door before slamming it shut. “Now, should anything happen, rather it be an explosion or a massive fireball erupting throughout the building, this door should HOPEFULLY hold it back. It’s a fire-door....it’s built to protect us against the heat and flames.......there might be a bit of smoke billowing through the cracks but that is to be expected! When you do see smoke kids, remain calm...OK? Now, I need to break open this window....but it’s not going to be easy with you guys in here with me and so little room to move around in. Let’s see what I have on my key chain that I could use.......”

“Louella, what about this door right here?”

“That door no longer works......it’s been sealed shut! It hasn’t been in service for quite sometime. Our only way out is through these windows......now if only I had something to safely shatter this glass........Oh, thank God I do! This window punch should do the trick. Alright kids, I know there’s not much room, but try to stand back........”

Louella placed the tool up against the glass and pushed as hard as she could until the glass shattered.

* * *

 

Outside, one of the fire fighters heard the sound of glass being shattered and quickly grabbed the attention of William and a few other men who came running immediately to where the sound was heard.

There, they found a window on the far end of the building had been shattered and immediately began pulling away the ragged shards from the frame, revealing none other than Louella Hawkins and the eight trapped children.

“Ms. Hawkins, are these the children that were trapped alongside you?”

“Yes, they are! William listen, we need to hurry and get these kids out as soon as possible.....turns out not all the containers in the basement had exploded. We still have a cylinder down there and it’s making this very horrible hissing sound......I fear it’s going to explode at any given moment!”

“OK........OK, Ms. Hawkins, just remain calm alright? We first have to clear out all the glass shards so that nobody gets extremely hurt. How are we doing, boys?”

“We almost have everything cleared out” one of the men replied as Doris Bell came running up screaming.

“Louella? Louella is that you?”

“Yes Doris....I’m alright, no worries.”

“Are you sure Louella? You’ve been in this building now for quite sometime.”  
“Yes Doris.....I’m sure.”

“Alright Louella, do you have anything in this room that could help like a step ladder or a stepping stool to get everyone up over this window?” William asked as Louella quickly looked around the room.

“No.....we don’t.....oh, wait a minute.......I see we have an old mop bucket......will that work?”

“Right now, anything to give these kids and you a leverage to get out of this window.”

“Alright, let’s go kids......we got to move quick.” Louella encouraged as she turned the bucket over onto the floor and then helped the first child up onto the window where the fire fighters quickly grabbed hold of the child’s waist and safely placed them down on solid ground.

“That’s one child out......seven more to go.” William addressed as he lured the first child over to a nearby fireman.

The second child, a girl was then helped out the window followed by the third and fourth child.

“OK, four more to go and then you! Let’s do this! You guys are doing wonderful!!!” another fireman encouraged.

One by one, each child was brought safely out of the building until it was down to one, and

she was too scared to even move!

Louella knelt down to her level, trying to talk some courage into her.

“Listen sweetie, we need to get out of here, alright? If we stay in here any longer, things are going to get even more scarier.......you’ll be much better off out there with these guys, where it’s safe OK? Come on.....take my hand, I won’t let go honey, I promise........I won’t let go until the firemen have you......OK? Come on, you’re doing great sweetheart.......one more step onto the window.........I still got you, don’t worry!”  
“We got her, Louella!” the men cried as Louella let go of the child’s hand and breathed a sign of relief knowing that all eight children were now safe out of harm’s way!

“Alright Louella.......now it’s your turn.”

Louella carefully stepped up onto the bucket, unsure rather or not it would take her weight as it started to wobble.

She could hear the sickening crunch of plastic as she placed her other foot on top and began climbing up onto the window, throwing her right leg up and over.

Just as she got her body resting on the window’s edge, the unthinkable suddenly happens as a loud BOOM could be heard and the building shakes violently.

Windows everywhere shattered upon the blast as a massive fireball works it’s way throughout the structure!

“OH MY GOD!!!” Doris screamed. “LOUELLA, GET OUT OF THERE........NOW!!!!”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


	6. The Fire: Part Two, The Evacuation

Just as Louella got her body resting on the window’s edge, the unthinkable suddenly happens as a loud _KA_ _BOOM_ fills the air.

The building violently shakes from the sudden impact under Louella’s hands as windows shatter and a massive fireball quickly works it’s way throughout the rest of the structure, taking out everything within it’s path.

“OH MY GOD!!!” Doris screamed. “LOUELLA, GET OUT OF THERE........NOW!!!!”

Without a second’s hesitation, Louella suddenly launched herself out of the window, landing hard on the concrete ground below just as the so called fire door bursts open, shattering the remaining windows and throwing open the once sealed door violently off its hinges before flames quickly consumed the small storage room.

The eight kids, who were just rescued from that room not to long ago watched in pure horror from across the road with tears in their eyes as realization hit them........another few minutes longer in there and they would all have been either severely injured or worse, killed.

“Louella......oh my God Louella honey, are you alright?” Doris asked as she immediately rushed to the janitor’s side, helping her up off the ground that was now littered with glass shards and quickly escorted her safely away from the now fully engulfed building.

“Yes Doris, I’m fine.” Louella muttered as she turned around to see what little was left of Degrassi Junior High School. “My God, I thought that was a fire door......look at the storage room now! It’s a good thing we’ve gotten those kids out to safely when we did. Speaking of which, where are they? Where are those kids?”

“They’re safely over there with that fireman across the street.” Doris pointed out much to Louella’s relief.

“Oh, that’s good. I’m so relieved. Gosh, if the building looks bad from the front, what does it look like in the back?”

Louella then limped her way over towards the back of the building, followed very closely by Doris who immediately covered her mouth in shock upon seeing the full destruction of the blaze.

“Our beloved school..........completely destroyed.” Doris cried as she quickly embraced Louella. “Oh Louella, I am just so thankful that you’re still here with us......you gave me quite the scare when you suddenly ran into the building.”

There were no words to say as Louella returned the embrace.

They continued to stand there, watching in absolute disbelief as the building burned before their very eyes.

“Ms. Bell, Ms. Hawkins.......I’m going to have to ask you two to proceed up to the front and join the other staff and students over on the other side of the road where it is much safer. It’s way too dangerous for you two to be back here, please and thank you. I know that this is a very tragic and emotional event that’s unfolding right before our very eyes, but if anything else should go wrong.......like say, the building suddenly collapsing, you two would be in harm’s way for we have no idea exactly which direction the structure would fall on.” William addressed sternly as Louella broke the embrace and began to escort a now very emotional Doris back towards the front of the building across the road.

“That’s completely understandable William. When I was in there heading up towards the second floor to get those kids out, I felt the entire foundation move under my feet. It literally freaked me out for I have never felt such a feeling like that before in my entire life, having something known to be completely solid literally turn into a spongy mush in such a short amount of time.” Louella addressed as she and Doris rejoined the rest of the shocked crowd. “Hey folks.......”

“Louella......” Karen Avery announced as she was the first to come over and give the heroic janitor a hug. “I’m so relieved that you’re OK.”

“Thank you Karen........”

Montgomery was next to come over and congratulate her as he only shook her hand. “Good job, Louella!”

“Thanks Montgomery.”

“Way to go, Louella Hawkins! You’re a hero!!” Daniel Raditch exclaimed as he too gave her a hug.

“I certainly don’t feel like one Daniel. I did what I had to do and that’s all, but thanks for the sentiment anyway! Oh, and Karen.....I have something for you, but I’ll wait until things die down a bit around here before I give it to you.”

“OK Louella. Yeah, it’s a bit hectic around here right now with the fire and all that’s going on. Good idea to just hold on to whatever it is you have until then.”

“OH MY GOD GUYS, LOOK!!!!” Lucy suddenly yelled out, pointing towards the building. “DOWN IN THE BOILER ROOM. IS IT ME, OR DOES IT LOOK LIKE THE FLOOR IS SAGGING?”

“No.....it can’t be?!” addressed Heather.

“How is that possible? Isn’t the floor solid concrete and steel? There’s no way that could collapse, could it?” added Erica.

“Actually Heather and Erica, it’s terrazzo flooring....not concrete and steel and yes it can collapse.” Louella clarified. “Considering how long that fire’s been raging out of control unnoticed in the boiler room for......over time, it’s managed to get into the walls and floorboards, slowly weakening the structure which is what we are seeing now. The main office is already destroyed as a result. I should know because I was just in there not too long ago!”

“Uh guys, there’s also something else you all ought to know........” Tessa began. “The boilers are still up and running in there!!”

“That’s preposterous, Tessa. Those boilers should be shut off as a safety precaution.”

“But they’re not Louella. We swear, they _are_ still going.” Scooter added. “When Tessa and I were down there and we discovered the fire, we could hear what sounded like a motor running very loudly.”

“I believe the kid’s right......” one of the firemen replied as he approached the group. “I do hear something running down there very rough and loud, almost like a very bad motor about ready to burn out.”

“And the floor is now sagging too, threatening to collapse at any given moment......Oh, this is bad! This is very bad. If that floor collapses on top of those boilers while they are still in operation........” explained William.

“This whole entire street is in danger.” Louella finished.

“Exactly......give me a moment here folks..... I have a crew to take care of!......Alright Boys, I’m going to have to order you all to evacuate away from the structure immediately. It is threatening to collapse as we speak! I repeat, evacuate away from the structure. It is threatening to collapse!”

“ _Ten-four.....initiating evacuations now._ ” one fireman announced over the CB.

“ _Back of_ _the_ _building is all clear._ ” another announced shortly afterwards.

“Man, I should have kept my words short and sweet when constantly saying ‘bye-bye Degrassi Junior High’. I never thought I would be eating those exact same words.” Lucy sadly declared.

“Lucy, how would you have known that something like this was going to happen?” Erica consoled just as the first floor suddenly collapsed into the basement, taking with it most of the front wall, windows and a part of the main doors.

Everyone screamed upon watching the destruction unfold, some turning away while others fell to their knees in disbelief and tears.

Daniel Raditch, Karen Avery, Montgomery Garcia and Louella Hawkins all tried their best to console and comfort the shocked crowd, but to no avail.

“And that’s just the first floor......the second floor ain’t too far off though by the looks of it.......” William declared. “Again, keep away from the structure, I repeat, keep away from the structure. Second floor looks about ready to....join....”

No sooner does Fire Marshal William get the warning out to his fellow fire fighters, the second floor joins the first in a now flaming pile of rubble.

“Louella, you.......don’t think......the boilers’.......motor........has something........to do.........with this fire.......do you?” Doris struggled to ask between sobs.

“I don’t know Doris.....as of right now, I really don’t have a clue. What the hell had Narbo Gas Boiler Emergency Repair Services done to our boilers?”

* * *

 

“ _If you have just joined us on CITY_ _PULSE_ _TONIGHT_ _,_ _we have some breaking news happening right now in Toronto’s Riverside_ _Neighbourhood_ _as Degrassi Junior High School_ _is_ _on fire_ _. Just a few moments ago, both the main and second floor_ _s_ _of the school have collapsed due to struc_ _tural_ _damage_ _apparently_ _caused by the blaze_ _which is still unknown at this time_ _._

_All we do know at this moment is that a_ _Graduation Dance was happening at the time and_ _that_ _everyone within attendance are all_ _now_ _safely_ _out and_ _accountable for, including those eight children who had_ _recently_ _been reported trapped on the second floor_ _earlier this evening_ _.........”_

Sue Jenkins paced back and forth in her living room with phone in hand, frantically trying to get a hold of her best friend and co-worker Louella Hawkins, who at the moment should have been at home like she said she was going to be earlier that afternoon.

She kept rotating between the off button and redial on her phone, hoping that Louella would finally answer her as she continued to listen in to Mark Dailey and the ‘Breaking News’ story that was sadly unfolding before her very eyes on City TV.

“Oh God Louella.....please answer the phone.” She begged as she tried once more. “You said earlier today that you would be at home......don’t tell me you’ve changed your mind and decided to hang out in the boiler room anyway?”

“ _We now have live, on scene Lorne Honickman who is right now standing by with the person who had saved those eight children.....take it away Lorne.”_

“ _Thank you, Mark. I am standing here on scene with Degrassi Junior High School’s Head Custodian Louella Hawkins, who just moments ago had risked her life to save eight children that were trapped on the second floor of the School. Louella, I know this must be a shock for you at the moment but could you possibly tell us what may have been the cause of this fire.”_

“ _I have no idea as to what started this fire to be truthfully honest with you Lorne. I was at home when the fire began and was ‘notified’ of the tragedy unfolding when an explosion_ _suddenly_ _took place_ _out of nowhere_ _. It was then I came running over to see if everyone had evacuated from the building only to find eight children were trapped inside on the top floor. I immediately took action, rushing into the building and got those kids out as quick as I could. I don’t really necessarily call myself a ‘hero’, nor do I really want to be looked up to as one either. I did what I_ _had to do_ _and that’s all that matters. Now, if you will excuse me.......I hear my phone ringing off the hook_ _over on my porch_ _!_ ” Louella declared as she suddenly ran with a limp towards what appeared to be her house.

The camera slowly panned from where Louella ran off to back to Lorne Honickman, the news anchor as he continued to report the story live on location.

Sue however continued to let the phone ring and ring and ring until finally.......

“ _Hello?”_

“Louella?”

“ _Yes, it’s me. Who is this?”_

“It’s Sue....I’ve been calling you frantically for the past half hour now. I just saw you on TV, are you alright?”

“ _Yeah Sue....I’m a bit shaken up, but I’m OK. We might be ordered to evacuate soon.....it’s really starting to get pretty bad around here.........the heat that’s coming off of this fire right now is just so unbearable and..........Oh my God........a house just two doors down from mine has just caught on fire.....Oh man, this is getting very bad.....Excuse me for a second Sue........DANIEL.........DANIEL, RUN UP THOSE STEPS AND KNOCK ON THAT PERSON’S DOOR! THEIR HOUSE JUST CAUGHT ON FIRE.....GET THEM UP AND OUT OF THERE, QUICK!!!! Sorry about that Sue, it’s that bad over here that other people’s properties are now spontaneously going up in flames as well!”_

“Yeah, that’s OK Louella. I’m watching it all unfold right now on City TV.....oh, this is really bad indeed!” Sue replied as she watched the cameraman follow Daniel Raditch as he rushed up the stairs of that house and began knocking frantically on their door.

“ _And to make matters worse Sue, the boilers are still up and running too!”_

“Are you serious, Louella?”

“ _Yeah.....Tessa Campanelli and Scott Webster clarified they were still up and running.....and we just now had both floors collapse on top of them......._ _severing many vital parts that keeps the boilers functioning normally._ ”

“Oh.....oh my God no.......Louella?”

“ _What? What’s wrong, Sue?_ ”

“They’ve just flashed it upon the screen.........they’re now calling out for an EVACUATION. They have Fire Marshal William speaking right now........”

“ _AN EVACUATION HAS BEEN DECLARED FOR DEGRASSI STREET AND THE SURROUNDING AREAS. IF YOU LIVE WITHIN THE PROXIMITY OF DEGRASSI JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL, YOUR LIFE IS RIGHT NOW IN DANGER. WE HAVE A VERY SERIOUS SITUATION ON OUR HANDS INVOLVING THE BUILDING’S BOILER SYSTEM BECOMING INCREASINGLY UNSTABLE AND IS NOW AT RISK OF YET ANOTHER EXPLOSION, MAYBE PERHAPS EVEN TWO. I REPEAT, AN EVACUATION IS DECLARED FOR DEGRASSI STREET AND SURROUNDING AREAS. IF YOU LIVE WITHIN THE PROXIMITY OF DEGRASSI JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL, PLEASE LEAVE YOUR HOMES IMMEDIATELY.”_

“ _Yeah, I hear him........listen Sue, I’ve got to go hon, but we’ll see you shortly OK? I think we’ll be safe at your apartment......you live in that complex on Shuter Street, right? Moss Park?”_

“Yes Louella.....just come down Queen Street East and turn on Seaton Street......I’m in that complex, 275, fifth floor.”

“ _Alright hon, I’ll let William know as soon as we get into the truck and make our way out of Degrassi Street. It’s close to a hospital right.....cause I’m sure many of us will be needing some form of medical attention.”_

“We are.....St. Michael's Hospital is the closest.”

“ _Alright Sue.....we’ll see you shortly! Bye hon.”_

“Louella, come on! We’ve got to evacuate immediately.....” William ordered as he began gathering up the rest of Degrassi’s staff and student body. “Just hop on into my truck here.........I’ll be right back, alright folks. Mike.....Mike........gather up some men and begin going door to door issuing out evacuations. Inform them that they are right now in grave danger and need to evacuate to safety immediately.....should they ask how far, say about two kilometres away from this affected area and do not come back around here until we make a public announcement deeming it safe to return. As for the rest of you men, multi-task between getting the Degrassi Junior High School fire under control and protecting other properties that are under threat of combustion. We’ve already got one home now up in flames as a result of the intense heat, we certainly don’t need anymore homes going up as well.......never thought things would be going from bad, to worse, to downright ugly in such a short amount of time........now, is everyone in the truck?”

“Almost William......Louella hasn’t returned from her house.” Doris replied.

* * *

 

Louella placed her phone back on the charger and began looking around her home, knowing this may be the last time she sees it in it’s normal state.

She could already smell the sickening scent of wood burning coming from upstairs as her smoke detector began beeping it’s warning, never to be silenced.

White wisps of smoke could also be seen making its way down towards the main floor..........

“LOUELLA HAWKINS, YOUR HOUSE HAS JUST CAUGHT ON FIRE.....GET OUT OF THERE NOW AND GET INTO THE TRUCK!!!!!! AN EVACUATION HAS BEEN ORDERED, MOVE!” She could hear William scream from outside.

Fighting to hold back the tears that now threatened to come down her face, she quickly ran out of her home, slamming the door shut behind her and began making her way towards William’s fire truck, hopping into the front seat with Doris Bell.

But before she slammed the door shut as William then jumped in and shifted the gear into drive, she glanced over once more at the burning wreckage that was once Degrassi Junior High School.

“Seriously.....just what have they done to our boilers?”

“Louella, we really need to get out of here.........those boilers could explode at any moment.......” William once again ordered. “We don’t have any time to waste.”

“Come on honey........there’s nothing more we can do............please close the door so we can safely get out of here before any more harm can be done.” Doris explained calmly.

Louella finally slammed the door shut and turned away, finally letting the tears fall as they slowly begin making their way out of Degrassi Street onto Gerrard Street East.

“Just what.......have they done......to our boilers?”

“I know this is a rather bad time, but we need to find a safe place for you all to hang out at until we can get medical personal on scene to transport you all to the nearest hospital. Any ideas?”

“Yeah.....my friend Sue Jenkins.........she lives in the Moss Park Apartment Complex........the closest we can get to her unit is by taking Queen Street East to Seaton Street.......she’s in complex number 275 on the fifth floor.” Louella managed to say as she continued to fight back her sobs. “Do we have everyone?”

“Yes.....everyone is in the back......safe and accountable for. Once we get to the complex, we’re going to have to make up a list consisting of those who are minor, moderate, serious, severe, critical and maximally injured, that way when medical officials do get the clearance from Degrassi Street, we’ll get those in the serious to maximal to the hospital first.”

“William, why can’t you take us to the hospital?” Doris asked.

“Because......my truck can’t fit into the emergency entrance.”

“ _Mike to_ _William.......come in William, urgently.”_

“William to Mike......hear you loud and clear, what is there to report?”

“ _William, we’re_ _now_ _starting to feel rumbling_ _in the ground_ _......not sure if it’s the boilers or not.........how far are you from Degrassi Street right now?”_

“I just turned onto Broadview Avenue.......and yes I can now feel the rumbling you’ve just reported.......”

“ _Brace yourself then William.......I don’t know which boiler is threatening to blow up......but it’s going to make a very violent impact.”_

“Ten four Mike.......thanks for the.............”

_BOOM!!!!_

William immediately slammed on the brakes just as a violent shock-wave ripped through the streets.

“You guys in the back.....lower your head between your legs, make sure your ears are covered and close your eyes......Doris, Louella, you guys get out of the truck, onto the ground and cover your head. Make sure your ears are covered and your eyes are closed. DO NOT MOVE UNTIL I GIVE THE OK.”

William, Doris and Louella jumped out of the truck and got onto the ground, making sure their heads, ears and eyes were covered just as the shock-wave made it’s impact felt......blowing out windows, street lights and everything else that was in it’s path of destruction.

After a few minutes, William got up off the ground and immediately answered Mark’s frantic CB call.

“ _William......COME IN WILLIAM. IS EVERYONE ALRIGHT?”_

“I believe so Mike......just give me a few.......OK EVERYONE, IT’S SAFE TO LOOK UP. IS EVERYONE ALRIGHT?”

“Yeah, I think so........what was that anyway?” Louella asked.

“ _I believe that was the second boiler that exploded............”_ replied Mike.

“That was the second boiler???”

“ _I’m afraid so Ms. Hawkins. Which means............”_

“Which means the furnace boiler has something even bigger in store............Degrassi Junior High School is going down...............and it’s taking all of Degrassi Street and a lot of innocent people around with it. Jesus Christ almighty.”

“ _William, I highly suggest you get everyone to a safe location AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. I now hate to think just what the furnace boiler has planed for it’s final demise.........”_

“Ten-four Mike......as soon as we get things cleaned up first.”

* * *

 

Back at Josh Thomas’ place, everyone was literally shaken upon that sudden explosive impact.

“We should have heeded the call of evacuation immediately........I’m not sure if that explosion was from the first or second boiler.........” stated Gregory.

“Gregory, I doubt that was the furnace boiler........the impact wasn’t that violent, however it was powerful enough to knock power out, blow out the street lamps and took out practically every window in the surrounding neighbourhood. We better head on out of here before things get too out of hand.........but the question is, where do we go from here?” asked Mary.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door as Mary quickly went over to answer it.

“Good evening Ma’am, I’m Sergeant Steals from the Toronto Police Department. I’ve been called upon to ask you all to evacuate from this area immediately. We have a very dangerous and potentially deadly situation on our hands just two blocks away from your home at Degrassi Junior High School.”

“Officer, we were just about ready to do just that, but where exactly would the safest place....like how far of a distance would we have to evacuate?” Gregory asked.

“About two kilometres would probably do it.......”

“Sue Jenkins’ apartment..........that would be the safest place for us to go! Come on guys.....you all head out into my pickup truck. I’ll be out there shortly. Thank you Officer Steals, we’ll be on our way.” said Josh as he then rushed down towards the basement. “I’ll just have to shut the fuse box off first........”

“Where does Sue live, exactly?” asked Scott.

“I know.....I was there once with Louella. She lives in that Moss Park Apartment Complex, building number 275 I believe.......but are you guys sure that’s two kilometres away from this area?” asked Tammy as she headed out of the house along with the rest of her co-workers.

“I believe so..........” answered Josh as he returned from the basement and took one last look around his house before rushing out the front door. “Alright.........power’s permanently off, doors are locked......I only hope we still have a place to call home when all of this is said and done.”

“I hope so too Josh.” Mary said doubtfully.

Josh, Mary and Tammy jumped into the cabin of the truck while Gregory, Scott and Lou hopped into the cargo bed.

“OK, Gregory, Scott, Lou, you guys going to be alright back there? Once we get moving, there’s no stopping until we get ourselves out of here to safety.”

“Yeah Josh, we’re fine.....just get us out of here in one piece and let’s hope that furnace boiler doesn’t plan on exploding anytime soon, if at all!” said Gregory.

“I truly hope it doesn’t........” added Lou.

“Me either.....” whispered Tammy.

“If it does though....it’s going to be a real doozy! Who would have thought this would become a terrifying reality??” Josh pondered as he found the ignition key, starting up the truck and then shifting it into reverse.

Since Degrassi was a one way only street with the far end completely blocked off with emergency personal, Josh had no other choice than to take Dundas Street.

* * *

 

“William......your truck!” Doris Bell cried when her eyes finally adjusted to the darkness on Broadview Avenue.

“No worries Ms. Bell, as long as it’s still running, I think we’ll be alright! Now, I should have a small broom around here somewhere to clean these shards of glass up......not to mention a flashlight. It seems that powerful explosion also knocked the power out around here as well. OK, I found the flashlight. Here’s a note for all of you folks, always keep a flashlight where you can easily find it, you know, just in case....alright now, to find that broom.”

“You mean this broom?” asked Kathleen as she held it up for William to see.

“Ah, thank you.....by the way, are you kids alright back there?” William asked as he took the broom from Kathleen and began to sweep the shattered glass up inside the front cabin of the truck.

“Not really.......” replied Joey. “Um........I really don’t know how to say this but there’s something really freaky going on with my hands right now.”

“As in..........what, exactly?”

“I got this William.....” Louella exclaimed as she immediately jumped up into the back of the fire truck to see exactly what Joey was talking about. “Um, William.....you definitely need to see this. I think Joey has what appears to be severe burns to his hands. There are blisters everywhere! Can’t really tell if they’re chemical in nature or not.”

“That sounds second degree......Louella, had the people of Narbo’s ever explained to you just what were in those ‘flammable containers’ that they persistently kept next to the boiler room door?”

“No....never. I don’t even have a single clue as to what was in that cylinder that just exploded not to long ago.”

“Shoot.......so we basically have no idea as to what chemicals we are dealing with here!?”

“None once so ever! I had a heck of a time just getting them to simply explain what they were doing and when!”

“Really?! Hmm, why all the secrecy? That sounds very suspicious, Louella. I’ve never heard of any boiler repair company being so heavily secretive over their procedures.”

“There’s also something else that struck me as odd with them as well, William. It was brought to my attention a few days ago but first, before I go on, can you please confirm this for me? In order to be in the business of being a ‘boiler repair technician’, you must first off have your high school diploma, then gain your technical diploma and/or an associates degree before you gain your valid licence, am I right?”

“I believe that is correct. They don’t just simply hand over those licences to just anyone off the street, you have to go through some very intense training and examinations before permanently earning your keep.”

“That’s what I thought........you see, when one of my co-workers Scott was down in the boiler room grabbing some supplies from my office, he couldn’t help but overhear some of the workers asking questions to things they technically should already know. As head custodian, I know exactly what to do and when to actually do it. Same can be said for my fellow co-workers. Once you’ve mastered your skill in the art of something, you should know how to do it no problem without any questions once so ever!”

“Indeed!! Everyone is and should be a master of their trade profession. I’ll tell you what Ms. Hawkins, as soon as we get to your friend’s apartment, I’ll see if I can get a hold of Sergeant Steals to issue out a manhunt for......who were the ones responsible for this work again?”

“Dan and Marianne. They never gave out their last names though......something else they also held back!”

“Dan and Marianne, eh? Those names sound very familiar. Alright, I hope I’ve got all of the glass shards brushed off.....just be very careful when getting back into the truck, OK ladies?”

“Thank you William.....I can’t wait to get out of this area cause it’s now giving me the creeps. All you hear around you are various alarms going off everywhere.” replied Doris as she and Louella hopped back into the truck and slammed the now glass free door shut.

“Yeah, an explosion can certainly do just that.....unfortunately, nothing can really be done about it. We just have to let them go off until they die out.” said William as he finished sweeping up his side of the seat, setting the brush down on the passenger’s side floor and then handing the flashlight over to Louella as he got in.

“Here, hold this up front and don’t let go until I say, please? It’s the only source of light we have!”

“OK, are you sure this will work, William?”

“I’m sure.....now, let’s head on over to Queen Street and then, where did you say your friend is located again, Louella?”

“Seaton Street, in those Moss Park Apartment complexes. Building number 275.”

“Ow......” Joey suddenly cried from the back.

“Joey.....Joey, try not to poke at those blisters. They are there for a reason, to protect your flesh from any more damage.” William warned.

“See, I told you so!” Wheels muttered.

“They look so gross.....” added Snake. “How did you get them, Joey?”

“I don’t know.....I went towards the stairwell to go get Caitlin’s jacket......”

“Which I never brought......” asserted Caitlin.

“Why didn’t you tell me that before I had left the gym?” blurted Joey.

“I did try to tell you but you were already gone.....”

“Anyway, as I got towards the stairwell and went to open the door, there was this sudden loud bang and I literally felt like I was flying through the air........then everything suddenly went black.

The next thing I know....I was on the floor with Mr. Raditch beside me frantically shaking me, trying to wake me up. When I finally came to, it was then that I saw the flames.”

“So, what do you guys think caused this fire?” asked Kathleen.

“I don’t know......but that was the most scariest event I have ever bared witness to in my whole life.” replied Melanie as the truck began to turn onto Queen Street. “We’re certainly not wasting anymore time, that’s for sure.”

Before long, the truck began to slow down again and make another turn, this time onto a small, dead end street in front of an apartment complex.

“OK, I don’t think I can go any further than this.......” William declared as he brought the truck to a complete stop.

“That’s alright, William. Right here is perfectly fine.” stated Louella as she then took the flashlight and began flashing it upward towards the building. “SUE...........SUE, WE’RE HERE! It’s a good thing they still have power, but for how long?! HEY...........SUE......!”

* * *

 

Upstairs, Sue was still watching the Breaking News story unfold on City TV when she saw the flash of light coming from outside.

Rushing towards her balcony, she quickly opened the sliding door and stepped out, looking down to find a fire truck sitting right out front with Louella Hawkins, Doris Bell and Fire Marshal William standing beside it.

“SUE.........!”

“LOUELLA....OH THANK GOODNESS YOU’RE ALRIGHT!! HOLD ON, I’LL BE RIGHT DOWN! IT MIGHT TAKE ME A BIT CAUSE I’LL BE TAKING THE STAIRWELL, JUST IN CASE ANOTHER EXPLOSION HAPPENS. I DON’T CARE TO BE STUCK IN AN ELEVATOR RIGHT NOW!”

“Alright hon......”

Sue immediately went back into her apartment and began heading down the hallway towards the stairwell.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


	7. The Fire: Part Three, It's All Gone!

As soon as Sue got down the last flight of stairs, she then rushed towards the main lobby door and outside, straight into Louella Hawkins’ arms.

“Oh My God, Louella.......” was all she could say as emotions quickly took over.

“I’m alright Sue......” Louella comforted, gently rubbing Sue’s back as she sobbed uncontrollably onto Louella’s shoulder. “I’m OK.....really!”

“You had me....worried sick. As soon as the news.....broke out on City TV, I immediately called you to see if you were.....at home....safe! When there was no answer, I quickly began to....fear the worst. I thought you had said earlier today that you....would be staying at home tonight and not sticking around in the boiler room?”

“I was at home Sue, but when I heard the explosions from across the road, I quickly rushed over to the school to see if everyone had gotten out of the building.........and.......”

As Louella was about to fully explain the situation, William stepped forward in between them to get their attention.

“Ms. Hawkins, Sue, I’m so sorry to interrupt here but um, where exactly can we place these kids? It is a bit on the chilly side out here tonight and it’s going to be a while before we can get clearance from Degrassi Street for paramedics to come and get you all transferred the rest of the way to the hospital.”

“Oh, um....yes Marshal William, inside the lobby should be fine I guess, but first I’ll have to let our Superintendent know what’s going on........OK? I’ll be right back, Louella.” replied Sue as she quickly calmed herself down, wiping away her tears and then headed back towards the apartment building. “And hold that thought!”

As soon as Sue was back inside, Louella then turned to William and began helping him get the kids off of the fire truck, back onto solid ground again.

“So William, why do you keep saying ‘we have to wait for clearance from Degrassi Street for medical personal’ when some of us are in need of immediate medical attention now?! What exactly is holding them back and are we actually really safe here where we are now?”

“First off Ms. Hawkins, we all saw how much of a massive impact the first boiler brought over on Broadview Avenue......with the second boiler under threat of doing the exact same thing as the first one, that is what’s keeping the paramedics held back at this moment and time cause we don’t really know just how big or how violent of an impact this one could actually have should it too explode. With that being said, I can assure you Louella and everyone else here that we are very much indeed safe for we are going to be inside the building seeking shelter. The paramedics, on the other hand would be out here in the open exposed to the blast. Should the furnace boiler explode and the impact is larger than the first one, we put them as well as all of you at risk of injury or worse......death. Second of all, I am fully well aware that some of you are in need of immediate medical attention right now, including you might I add Ms. Hawkins which is why as soon as we get you all inside where it’s safe and warm, and get everything organized as well, with what little tools I hopefully may have within my truck, start administering temporary care for those who really need it.”

“Wait.....did you just mention me? Why me? I’m perfectly fine, William. I don’t need medical treatment!”

“Yes you do, Louella! You were in that burning building for quite some time.” chastised Doris. “I personally kept time of when you ran into the building and when you came out......you were in there for a good twenty minutes. Twenty minutes and eighteen seconds to be exact!”

“No.......I wasn’t in there for _THAT_ long, was I? OK, let’s figure out the timeline here.....I heard the explosions happen around 9:45 PM. William, exactly what time was my call put in at?”

“Um, approximately 9:47 PM is when your call for help came in......you hung up the call six minutes later at 9:53, stating your last exact words when told to stay on the line by our dispatcher, ‘ _I can’t. I have to go over there and see if everyone is OK and accounted for. Please, just get here as quick as you can......’_.”

“OK, and then after I had hung up with your dispatcher, I did what I said I was going to do......I ran over towards the school to see if everyone was out and accountable for, but Doris here was in too much shock at the moment to even think straight! It was then that Daniel and I heard the sound of someone banging up against the window. Quickly, I scanned the entire building, wondering where exactly the sound was coming from and that’s when movement caught my eye. There, standing in the middle window on the second floor were a few children, desperately trying to grab our attention cause they were trapped. Knowing it would be a while before the fire department arrived, I immediately took matters into my own hands by running into the building without a second’s hesitation. I had no other choice! I couldn’t just simply stand there, watch and wait when time was clearly against us!”

“Which was approximately 9:56 PM, sharp. You didn’t get back out of there until around 10:16 PM.”

“Are you really that serious, Doris?”

“I’m afraid she is being serious, Louella. You were in there from 9:56 to 10:16......what took you so long anyway?” asked Daniel Raditch as he was the last to carefully get out of the vehiclealongside Joey, whom he held tight around his waist helping him down as wellsince he could no longer use his hands due to the severe burns.

“Well, after I got the kids down from the second floor, I then went into the main office to get this.....” Louella declared as she then reached into the front pocket of her uniform and pulled out a sheet of paper. “Karen, I got you the Correspondence Forms.....you know, for Christine.”

“Louella! You didn’t? I could have just made the request with the School Board to send me out a copy.” exclaimed Karen Avery as she took the papers from Louella.

“And what, Karen? Having towait a few days to a week just to receive those papers? By the time you get them filled out, sent back and for the board to review and get it all figured out, summer would be over and Christine would have no other choice than to take Grade 10 in the General Program instead!

It’s a risk I simply cannot take Karen. Christine deserves to have this chance........that is, if she had accepted to take those courses in the first place? Please say she has, otherwise I just put my life on the line for nothing!”

“Thankfully, she has. She was going to stop by tomorrow to get the papers signed and done but I guess that won’t be happening now that the school is gone. Oh, thank you so much anyways, Louella. I wasn’t expecting you to put your life on the line like that tonight simply for a piece of paper.”

“Yes, thank you so very much indeed, Louella.” added in Christine who was standing nearby with her fellow classmates. “I was beginning to worry about what was going to happen to my future.”

“Well, worry no more Christine! Just do me a big favour and kick major butt in these courses, alright?”

“I will, Louella!”

Christine walked over to Louella and gave her a ginormous hug.

“Good luck, honey!”

“Thanks!”

“HEY, THERE’S LOUELLA!!!!” a voice suddenly called out from Queen Street. “THIS IS THE PLACE, JOSH.....PULL IN HERE!”

Louella looked up just in time to see a brown 84’ pick up truck quickly turn onto the dead-end street of Seaton and come to a stop in a nearby private driveway.

“I hope the owner doesn’t mind us parking here temporary.” exclaimed Scott as he, Gregory and Lou all hopped out from the truck’s cargo bed while Josh, Mary and Tammy stepped out from the cabin, quickly rushing towards the apartment building!

“Louella......” Mary cried as she was the first to run over to her boss, giving her an enormous hug. “Oh, I’m so glad you’re alright!”

They were soon joined by the rest of the crew, all very much relieved that Louella was still with them and alive!

“Thank goodness you’re still with us!!” Lou began.

“Yeah, on our way here, we all began to wonder if you were still here..............or........or gone.” Josh finished.

“WHAT?!? Guys, I was at home the entire time where I said I was going to be.......I’m perfectly alright!!!!”

“So why are your clothes smelling like smoke then?” inquired Gregory.

“I’ll tell you all later, OK? Sue also wants to know what thoroughly happened and I already told the story to Doris, Daniel and William prior to your arrival not to long ago.”

“Speaking of Sue, where is she? I thought she’d be out here with you.” asked Tammy.

“She was.....she’s back inside, talking with her Superintendent about getting everyone inside where it’s nice and warm. It is a bit chilly out here tonight, isn’t it?” Louella exclaimed. “I thought it was June......not mid October!”

“Alright guys.....come on in and get warmed up!” Sue announced as her Superintendent held the door open for everyone to enter the apartment complex lobby.

“I’ve also got some extra blankets out if anyone is in need of them......” the Superintendent declared. “If there’s anything else you guys are in need of, please do not hesitate to ask!”

“Uh yes, would you happen to have a clipboard and a piece of paper we can use?” asked William.

“Certainly....Sue, you mind taking over holding this door while I go and get the clipboard and a piece of paper for......?”

“William, I am the Fire Marshal of the Toronto Fire Department. Ladder Number 325.”

“William, yes....of course. Please, come with me! My name’s Duncan by the way.” said the Super as he and William headed back towards his unit while Sue took over holding the door.

“Hey Sue!” greeted Scott as he walked in along with Louella, Tammy, Mary, Josh, Gregory and Lou.

Once everyone was inside, safe and warm....Sue closed the door and then walked over to where Louella had just sat down on a nearby chair.

“OK Louella, you were saying?”

“Alright Sue......so as I was saying before William interrupted earlier, when the explosion took place, I quickly rushed over towards the school to see if everyone was safe and accountable for.....I had asked Doris if she had taken a headcount of all the students in attendance which she didn’t....she was too shocked to even think! It was then that Daniel and I heard what sounded like someone banging up against the glass. I looked all over the building, wondering where exactly it was coming from........then suddenly some motion from the middle window caught my eye and that’s when I saw a few students up there on the second floor trying to gain our attention. Clearly, they were trapped and I had no other choice than to run on inside and get them out to safety. Once I got to the kids, I quickly got them down to the main floor and was about to head on down into the left hand side of the building when it dawned on me at that point that I needed to get something for Karen Avery......those Correspondence Forms for Christine. So I ran into the office, knowing I didn’t have much time in there cause the floor and walls were about ready to go at any given moment and frantically, began looking for that one sheet of paper.”

“YOU SERIOUSLY RISKED YOUR LIFE FOR A PIECE OF PAPER THAT KAREN SIMPLY COULD HAVE REQUESTED FROM THE SCHOOL BOARD? LOUELLA HAWKINS, ARE YOU NUTS!? YOU COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED!!” shouted Josh.

“But I’m not....am I?! Now where was I......oh yes. When I finally found it, I realized my time in there was up as the walls were now engulfed in flames. The floor felt like you were literally walking on a bunch of wet sponges and there was NO OXYGEN any where's in the room! Guys, I ran as fast as my feet could carry me out of there A-S-A-P. I swear, I had never ran so fast before in my entire life until that very moment! As soon as I was safely out of the office, I then regained myself, grabbed the kids again and proceeded to find a safe way out of the building. Since backdraft was a one hundred percent possibility at that point, I simply could not just shatter a window or open a door. It was so intensely hot in there, you couldn’t even breathe. Like I said, there was NO oxygen........anywhere. That’s how hot that fire was burning within the building! I looked around the small hallway and saw that little storage room at the end, completely untouched by the heat cause the door was thankfully closed and I knew that was our only way out without triggering a massive, flammable path of destruction! As I began to clear a pathway towards the nearest window, the power suddenly went out.....and I thought, ‘OK, the fire’s obviously gotten into the fuse box and has now cut out the building’s power supply’.....but no, I was dead wrong! The power shortly came right back on again a few seconds later with a rather nasty surprise......wall outlets and light figures began smoking and sparking up a storm and I was like, ‘great, just what we need.....an electrical fire now on top of whatever the hell had started in the boiler room!’ Then to top all this off, one of the kids began hearing a sickening hissing sound coming from the basement and I realized right there and then that not all of the containers had gone up in the blaze.....there was still one more left to go......”

“The cylinder?” Mary gulped.

“Yes......it was that damn cylinder! Pardon my french, kids!! Now I knew I was completely running out of time at that point! I quickly got all of the kids into that small storage room and proceeded to break the window using a tool I found nearby to punch the glass out! Thankfully the glass shattered on the first blow and it grabbed the attention of the fire department outside who immediately took over clearing out the glass shards and began getting the kids out one by one to safety. Once they were cleared out, I was about to make my escape when suddenly the entire foundation began to shake. I heard Doris screaming for me to get out and I managed to within an inch of my life as the cylinder blew up, taking with it the entire school in a massive fireball!”

Louella’s story left everyone in shock as silence filled the air for a moment.

“Whoa.......so, exactly how long were you in the building for?” asked Lou Robbins, breaking the silence.

“According to Doris, twenty minutes and eighteen seconds!”

“Twenty minutes???” her whole entire crew gasped in horror.

“My God, Hawkins! How are you even still alive right now, seriously???” inquired Tammy in disbelief.

Louella shrugged her shoulders and shook her head just as William came back out into the lobby, now with clipboard in hand and ready to take down some names.

“Alright, can I have your attention please, folks? Everyone, can I please have your attention?”

The staff and students all immediately calmed down upon William’s request.

“Thank you. Now, I’m sure you’re all wondering why we’re here at this apartment complex and not at the hospital where we really should be getting immediate medical treatment and check ups done. First off, I could take you guys to the hospital myself, except the size of my fire truck simply cannot fit within the emergency entrance of St. Michael’s Hospital. There has to be a maximum clearance of nine feet, seven inches and my truck is over ten feet, nine inches....too large and wide to be able to enter into the emergency department. Second of all, Degrassi Street is not out of the woods yet. We’re still under threat of yet another boiler explosion and we simply don’t know just how much of a violent impact this one could have on the surrounding area. As everything stands right now, it’s way too dangerous to send paramedics over here to do what they need to do. So, what I would like to do at this moment and time however is to start getting things organized so that when the paramedics do get clearance from those on Degrassi Street, they’ll know exactly who to take first to the hospital, OK? Now, we’re going to put you all in the following categories of injury: minor/moderate, serious/severe, critical and maximal. We can most certainly rule out the maximal category cause we do not have any casualties, thank goodness.”

Scott Webster, AKA Scooter raised his hand. “What does maximal mean?”

“Basically, it means death.........Now, we’ll start with those in the critical category. Louella Hawkins. Joey Jeremiah. I can certainly put you both down on this list under critical due to your injuries. Louella for severe smoke inhalation, it’s truly a miracle that you’re even still with us at this moment. And Joey.....let’s have a look at those hands, shall we?”

Joey groaned in pain as he raised his hands up for William to see.

“Yes.....these are very much indeed second degree burns. Duncan, do you have a bucket or basin we could use to put some cool water into?”

“Unfortunately William, I do not.....I have a bucket, but unfortunately it’s not cleaned or sanitary to use for medical purposes.”

“William, I have a basin we can use, but it’s up in my apartment. I’ll have to head back up the stairs to get it.” Sue offered as she then stood up off the floor. “Louella, I’ll be right back, OK? Just do what William asks you to do and don’t deny it, please? You need serious treatment right now honey! Twenty minutes in a fire is indeed way too long. William’s right, it really truly is a miracle that you’re even still with us!”

“Sue, why not just use the elevator? It’s still in service, isn’t it?” Louella asked. “It would be much quicker.”

“I would, but if that explosion happens and it suddenly knocks out all the power, I don’t want to be the one stuck!”

“Thank you Sue.....while you go and do that, I’ll go get the oxygen tank and supplies from my truck.......Louella, we need to get you on oxygen right away and Joey, we’ll handle your injuries as soon as Sue comes back down with the basin, alright? Duncan, can you hold the front door open for me while I go out and check my truck for the supplies?”

“Oh, certainly. So, has there been any word yet on what may has caused this fire, William?”

“Not yet......as of right now, I’ve left my crew and several other fire departments behind to tackle between getting the Degrassi Junior High School fire under control and protecting surrounding properties. Unfortunately, we had already lost one properly while the owners were still inside. Thankfully, we managed to get their attention and got them out to safety just in the nick of time. I only hope they had found some temporary shelter for the time being. Another home, which belonged to Louella Hawkins, was also on the verge of catching fire just as we began issuing the evacuations. No word yet on rather or not they had saved it. Speaking of which......I should get a quick update while I’m out here.” William exclaimed as he got to his truck and grabbed his CB from the front seat. “William to Mike.....come in Mike. William to Mike......can you hear me? Over.”

“ _Mike to William, hear you loud and clear. Over.”_

“Mike, I need an updated report. What’s been happening on Degrassi Street?”

“ _Well, Louella will be happy to know that she still has a home to go to......although there is a bit of water and fire damage, but for the most part we’ve managed to save it from complete disaster....and we believe we may have this fire now under control. So far, there has been no rumbling brought on by the furnace boiler.....at least not yet anyway....... I’m starting to think maybe it’s shut itself down. Thank goodness! Over.”_

“She’ll be relieved to hear that, I’m sure. Alright, just letting you know Mike that as of right now we have the victims of the Degrassi fire settling down here at Moss Park Apartment Complex and since we can’t get paramedics out over here just yet due to the threat still lingering over there, I’m going to get some of our most critical patients started on some temporary medical treatment. Louella Hawkins, 23 year old female suffering from severe smoke inhalation is going to get started on oxygen treatment while Joey Jeremiah, 15 year old male has second degree burns to his hands. Unsure at this point if they are chemical or thermal in nature, but we’re going to get a basin filled with cool water in hopes that would sooth the pain down somewhat.”

“ _Ten-Four William. We’ll definitely try to keep you guys updated and posted on the happenings going on here. Mike, over and out!”_

“Alright now, I’m very sure I have an extra oxygen tank hanging around here somewhere......as well as a tube and a face mask. OK, I found the oxygen tank......just need to make sure it’s full, which it is! Good. Now, to find that tube and face mask.........ah, there we are!! Never leave for any emergency without ‘em!!!”

With supplies now in hand, William returned to the apartment building and got Louella started with her treatment first.

“Now, once I put this mask on, do not remove it from your face Louella. This is for your own good, alright? We need to get some healthy oxygen into your body to combat those toxins that are in your blood stream. Since we have no clue as to what were in those darn flammable containers that were purposely left next to the boiler room door, that’s what’s scaring me the worst right now. Without knowing the knowledge of what we are actually dealing with here, it makes giving proper medical treatment extremely difficult.”

“OK, I’m back with the basin. Will this do for whatever it is you need it for, William? It’s completely cleaned out......” said Sue as she handed the basin over.

“Yes.....this will do, now we just need to fill it up with some cool water.....I’ll be right back.” William declared as he quickly rushed back into Duncan’s unit to fetch some water from the bathroom tub.

“Guys, I’m starting to feel really sick.” Joey moaned as he tried to rub his stomach, but it was literally next to impossible to do with his hands being extremely sore with all the painful and disgusting blisters everywhere.

“Uh-oh.....sick as in ‘not feeling good’ sick or sick as in ‘I’m ready to upchuck chunks’ kind of sick?” asked Wheels.

“Sick as in......*hic* ready to upchuck..........chunks kind of *hic*.........sick.”

“That is so not good at all.” Louella declared. “Joey, do you remember anything at all from the incident?”

“Yes, I remember approaching the doorway that lead towards the main stairwell. I was going to head up to the lobby, thinking that’s where Caitlin had left her jacket. I thought she showed up wearing a jacket cause it’s pretty cool out there tonight.”

“Which I didn’t bring....” Caitlin asserted once again. “I had tried to tell him that, but it was too late. He was already out of the gym and everyone was in the process of evacuating the building. Before I even had the chance to go after him, that’s when we heard what sounded like an explosion and I was immediately whisked away towards the fire doors by Arthur and Yick.”

“Anyway......as I reached out to pull the handle of the door open, that’s when I heard a very loud BOOM followed quickly by a massive flash of light and a blast of extreme hot air, enough to take your breath away as I then felt my entire body literally being lifted off the floor. The last thing I remember was hitting the floor hard shortly after going airborne and everything just going black.

When I regained consciousness, I saw Mr. Raditch knelt down beside me and he helped me sit back up again before finally getting me back on my feet. It was then that I saw the stairwell, fully engulfed in flames......and at first I thought this was nothing more than a very bad dream......I could barely even recognize it, but I knew this was the real deal cause I could smell the foul smoke that was in the air. As we quickly evacuated the building, I never really thought about what my hands looked like at the time cause I was basically running on adrenaline at that point trying to find Caitlin. It wasn’t until when we were in the fire truck, stuck on Broadview Avenue after the first massive explosion that I felt a sudden sharp pain go through me. I looked down and saw my hands were covered in blisters. Is my face also burnt as well or is it just my hands? My face feels a little sore too.......”

“Your face does look a little red......almost like a sunburn than anything else. William, what do you think?” asked Mary as William returned with the basin, now half full with cool water. “Is this a burn as well? It’s all red around Joey’s chin and neck area.”

“Yes it is....but thankfully it’s more like a sunburn type injury which will heal with time, but I am more concerned about the burns on Joey’s hands right now which are even more serious. Here Joey, let’s get your hands soaking in this water, alright? This will hopefully help tone down the pain somewhat. Just leave them in there for about......a good 15 or so minutes, OK? Now, is there anyone else in critical condition?...........Nobody? Alright, anyone in serious or severe condition? I couldn’t help but notice when I had first arrived on scene, quite a few of you were standing right in the path of heavy, toxic smoke. If you had been exposed, then please raise your hand.”

A few students in response raised their hand.

“Daniel, could you help me identify these students please so I can write them down on this board?”

“Certainly William, we have Dorothy, Jyoti, Les, Vivian Wong, Joy, Tim O’ Connor, Tessa Campinelli, Scott Webster, Trudi Owens, Amy Holmes, Allison Hunter, and the Farrell Twins, Heather and Erica.”

“Thank you.....I’m going to ask those within the serious/severe category to stand over there, please? That way I can keep track of whom is who. Alright.....now we move on into the moderate/minor categories.......anyone feeling nauseous or some other weird symptom that you simply cannot explain, please raise your hands.......OK, Daniel.....once again if you please name off the students for me.”

“Lucy Fernandez, Lorraine Delacorte, Kathleen Mead, Max, Melanie Brode, Michelle Accette, that’s A-cc-e-tte, Mahmoud, M-a-h-mou-d, Luke Matthews, with two t’s, Shane McKay, Maya Goldberg, Vicky Friedland, Bryant Lester Thomas, Alexa Pappadopolos, P-a-pp-a-d-o-po-los, Simon Dexter, Yick Yu, spelt as Y-u, not Y-o-u. Arthur Kobalewscuy, Ko-bal-ews-cuy, Bartholomew Bond, Bart-holo-mew, Christine Nelson, Liz O’Rourke and Caitlin Ryan. I believe that’s everyone.”

“Thank you Daniel for your help......”

“No problem!”

“Guys.....I need to go answer my phone real quick, it might be one of our tenants. I’ll be right back.” addressed Duncan suddenly as he quickly went back into his unit to answer it. “Hello.......Sue Jenkins?.......Yes, she is. Who is this please?.........alright, hold on a minute!..........Sue, telephone. Someone named Bruce Lawrence wants to speak with you.”

“That’s our Principal.....he’s probably wondering where everyone is. Be right back, Louella.”

“Sue.....don’t you dare tell Bruce about what happened to me should he inquire, alright?”

“Louella, honey, he’s going to want to know if you’re OK or not.”

Louella shook her head in defeat as Sue went to answer the phone in Duncan’s apartment.

“Hello Bruce.......”

“ _Sue, where is everyone? The last I heard, there was an evacuation called......but there has been no updates on anything since. No word on where everyone is, if everyone is alright and accountable for, if there are any casualties or injuries......I am worried sick right now for I have no idea at all!”_

“OK, OK Bruce....calm down, alright.....everyone is here at my apartment complex, safe and sound.”

“ _OK, where is that exactly? There are thousands of ‘apartment complexes’ here in Toronto!”_

“We’re at the Moss Park Apartment Complex....where are you located right now? What street are you on?”

“ _I just turned onto Gerrard St East.....emergency personal have all of Degrassi Street completely blocked off.....you can’t even get any where's near the area once so ever. I had to take Simpson Avenue from Logan Avenue just to get onto Gerrard St.”_

“Alright Bruce.....from Gerrard Street, head on down until you get to Parliament Street. Make a left hand turn onto Parliament and continue down until you get to Queen Street. Make a right, then drive a few blocks til you see a dead end street called Seaton. Pull in there and you’ll see a big, destroyed fire truck sitting in the parkway. That’s my apartment complex.......when you get here, just knock on the door and we’ll let you in, alright? OK......we’ll see you soon. Bye.”

Sue placed the phone back on the receiver and headed back out into the lobby.

“Bruce is on his way....he just called from his car phone.”

“Must be nice having one of those!!!” uttered Josh sarcastically.

“Yeah, totally! I can’t even afford a brand new car.” scoffed Louella. “Let alone, keeping up with my bills and mortgage to a home that’s probably now burnt down to the ground!”

* * *

 

An old 71’ Cadillac Coupe Deville finally pulled in to the dead end street of Seaton and parked right next to the brown 84’ pickup truck, making sure it’s rear-end was not blocking off the entrance for any other vehicle or emergency personal who needed access just in case.

Inside, Bruce Lawrence turned the ignition off before pulling the keys out and then undoing his seat belt as he stepped out of the vehicle, locking the door and slamming it shut behind him.

“This must be the place.....Josh’s truck is here.....and there’s the fire truck Sue told me about parked in the parkway. She wasn’t kidding about it being destroyed.......there’s not a single speck of glass to be seen! Oh, good God almighty........now.....where exactly is the entrance to this place?”

He continued to walk down the sidewalk, passing many separate units until he got to what appeared to be the main lobby doors and looked inside.

Sure enough, everyone from Degrassi were inside the lobby either standing or sitting around, simply awaiting their fate.

Bruce gently knocked on the window, grabbing the attention of Sue who immediately ran over to answer it.

“Evening Bruce......” Sue greeted as she hugged the Principal.

“Evening, Ms. Jenkins......” He replied back. “Could someone please explain to me what has happened here tonight? Does anyone know how this fire got started? How did it spread so quickly and most importantly, is everyone here safe and accountable for?”

“Bruce.....one question at a time, alright? First off, a tragedy has indeed taken place here tonight at Degrassi Junior High School. None of us know exactly how this fire got started or how it had spread so quickly throughout the rest of the building, but I can assure you Sir that everyone is very much here and accountable for.” replied Daniel Raditch as he approached Sue Jenkins and Bruce Lawrence by the main door. “We just got finished making a list up of people who are in minor to critically injured so that when paramedics do get the clearance from Degrassi Street, they can immediately get those in need to the hospital first before dealing with the rest of the victims here. Those who are right now in critical condition are none other than Joey Jeremiah with second degree burns to his hands and Louella Hawkins who is dealing with severe smoke inhalation brought on by being inside the building for far too long! Twenty minutes and eighteen seconds to be exact!”

“Oh, God damn it Raditch! You had to draw the attention over towards me, didn’t you?” Louella muttered under her breath as Bruce then rushed over to where she was sitting in complete shock.

“Louella......Oh my God.........Louella Hawkins, what happened to you? Don’t tell me you were in the boiler room at the time of the fire.”

“No Bruce.....I wasn’t any where’s near the boiler room at the time of the fire! If I was, I’d probably be nothing more than a pile of ashes on the floor right now in my charcoaled office!! I was safely at home where I said I was going to be! I got notification of the blaze shortly after a few explosions were heard and that’s when I rushed over to the school to see if everyone was out. Since Doris here was in a massive state of shock, she didn’t take a headcount of who was in attendance. It was then that Daniel and I heard the sound of someone banging up against one of the windows.....desperately trying to gain our attention. Frantically, I looked around, trying to find where exactly the banging was coming from.........suddenly some movement from the middle window on the second floor caught my eye.

Some students were trapped up there and I immediately took action, rushing into the burning building without a second’s hesitation to get them out. According to Doris, I was in there for quite some time.....twenty minutes and eighteen seconds to be exact as Daniel here just said....*sigh*...that’s why I’m sitting here on oxygen right now, being treated for severe smoke inhalation, while Joey Jeremiah here.......he left the gym to go get Caitlin Ryan’s jacket which he thought she had brought with her and left in the lobby......as he got towards the door to head up the stairwell, that’s when the explosion took place, throwing him back a few feet and left second degree burns on his hands.”

“Hi, Mr. Lawrence.” Joey muttered weakly.

Bruce looked down to see Joey sitting cross-legged on the floor with his two hands soaking in the basin.

“Oh my.........Joey, are you alright?”

“Not really......I’m feeling really sick right now.”

“Oh man........! Exactly what in the world could have possibly caused this explosion, of all things to happen at Degrassi Junior High School? Louella, I know for a fact that you don’t allow anything flammable or explosive any where’s near or inside the boiler room, so just what could have caused this massive chaos?”

“Bruce.......I think we know the answer to that and we really should have came out with our concerns and suspicions to you sooner rather than later. That company the School Board hired to fix our boilers......Narbo Gas Boiler Repair Emergency Service? Well, in the past couple of weeks, we’ve all began to notice a few odd and rather disturbing things about them.....” replied Scott Norlan.

“Very odd, suspicious and disturbing things indeed like for instance, some of their workers asking questions to things they technically should have already known!!!” added Josh. “Scott, wasn’t it just a few days ago that you reported what you had over heard them asking to Louella Hawkins?”

“Yes, on June 21st to be exact I reported it! I was down in the boiler room getting some rags and stuff when I overheard them asking things like, ‘where does this part go to and what wire connects to where......’ I thought they were suppose to be highly trained professionals, right? Well, for a bunch of highly trained professionals, they certainly had very short attention spans while studying to get into this field of work in the first place!”

“And another thing that struck me as extremely disturbing, Bruce was their rather nonchalant attitude about safety and regulations. When they had first arrived, they kept most of their equipment, INCLUDING several flammable containers NEXT to the Boiler Room door! I had asked them multiple times to move the flammable products at least twenty feet away from the door to no avail......they kept telling me that they were fine exactly where they were. Even I know better than to leave anything flammable or explosive any-where's near a hot ventilated area!” Louella exclaimed.

“Did they even tell you what were in those flammable containers, and what they were used for Louella?”

“Nope, they haven’t told me nothing! Truth be told Bruce......on the second day they were at the school, I literally had to DEMAND them to tell me just what was going on with our boilers and what they were doing to fix them! Every time I had asked for an update, they’d reply with ‘well, we’ve got this issue to deal with and that issue had been dealt with.......’ not really explaining in full just what those supposed ‘issues’ were! Come to think of it......we don’t even know Dan or Marianne’s last names......they only introduced themselves by their first names when they walked into the main office!”

“Wouldn’t they be mentioned in the contract they had you guys sign?” asked Doris Bell.

“I don’t think so. I never saw it.....speaking of that contract, where exactly is it?”

“It’s on my desk at home, Louella. No worries, I have it!” Bruce declared.

“Ah, thank you for bringing those two up and reminding me of what I said I was going to do once we got everything here settled down and organized, Louella!” blurted William as he once again rushed out the door. “I’ll be right back!!!”

Bruce looked at the door where William just rushed out of with a puzzled look on his face before turning back to Louella, obviously wondering what that was all about.

“Oh, when we were stuck over on Broadview Avenue while making our way over here after the first boiler explosion, we had gotten into a conversation about what we had to deal with in regards to Narbo’s Gas Boiler Repair employees and the constant secrecy and unprofessionalism we were handed by them. I think he too knows something’s not quite right here and that we now need some much needed answers! William stated that as soon as we got here to safety and had gotten things organized and settled down somewhat, he would try to call up Sergeant Steals and ask if it’s possible to issue out a manhunt for either Dan or Marianne. I guess that’s what he’s doing right now!!!”

* * *

 

“Marshal William to Sergeant Steals......do you hear me?.............Marshal William to Sergeant Steals......”

“I’m actually right here, William!” a voice came out from nowhere, starling the Fire Marshal as he turned around just in time to see Sergeant Steals stepping out from the front of the fire truck. “I say, your truck has seen better days!!”

“Oh, you startled me Serge! I take it you’ve got all the surrounding areas in and around Degrassi Street completely evacuated and cleared out?”

“Indeed, we have. I decided to stop by and check on how things are going here....”

“Well Steals, we now got all of the victims here settled down for the time being......two are right now getting temporary medical treatment, one for severe smoke inhalation while the other is dealing with serious second degree burns to his hands. Not sure if they are either thermal or chemical in nature......and if they are chemical, then it’s going to be an extremely difficult case to deal with cause as of right now, we have no possible clue as to what those chemicals are so we can properly treat the patient. I was actually going to call you to see if you could perhaps issue out a manhunt for these two possible arson suspects, Dan Thurman and Marianne Corr.”

“OK, those names sound awfully familiar. Extremely familiar actually.........I can’t quite put a finger on it as to where I had heard those two before?”

“Could Narbo Gas Boiler Repair Emergency Services ring a bell?”

“Those guys?!?! Damn it! You know something Marshal William, for the past six months now, Toronto has been seeing a massive rise in boiler related incidents, from office buildings to high rise apartments, factories to schools. To think, this all started with the Liberman Junior High School back in December.”

“I do recall the Liberman Junior High School fire, Steals. We were the first responders on scene......within just a matter of seconds upon our arrival, the entire building literally went up like a roman candle! It’s amazing there were no casualties.”

“And like Degrassi tonight, Liberman’s fire also started........”

“IN THE BOILER ROOM.” William and Steals stated together.

“Steals, I don’t know about you, but I think we now have a very familiar connection going on within all of these fires as of late. It’s all just too coincidental.........don’t you think?”

Sergeant Steals nodded as he reached for his CB radio attached to his bullet proof vest.

“ _This is Sergeant Steals issuing out a manhunt for two possible arson suspects, Dan Thurman and Marianne Corr. Be sure to inform all media outlets as well so the public can also be on the lookout for these folks. I believe we do have a recent mugshot of the pair somewhere within our files.....get the word out A.S.A.P!”_

“ _Ten-four Serge, we’ll send out the alert now. Over.”_

“And they should be sending that alert out in 3, 2, 1........”

“ _CALLING ALL UNITS, CALLING ALL UNITS. KEEP ON THE LOOK OUT FOR SUSPECTS DAN THURMAN AND MARIANNE CORR.......”_

“Hopefully we’ll get them into custody immediately and then get some much needed answers!!!............Uh William, do you feel that.............that rumbling underneath your feet?”

“Yeah.....actually, I do.”

“ _MIKE TO WILLIAM.....COME IN, URGENTLY. MIKE TO WILLIAM, DO YOU READ ME? THIS IS URGENT!!!”_

“William to Mike, receiving you loud and clear. What do you have to report? What’s going on?”

“ _THINGS ARE LOOKING BAD_ _HERE,_ _WILLIAM. WE THOUGHT WE HAD THIS FIRE UNDER CONTROL BUT IT TURNED OUT TO BE FALSE. FURTHER MORE, WE’RE STARTING TO FEEL_ _SOME MASSIVE_ _RUMBLING UNDERNEATH OUR FEET!_ _IT’S ALMOST LIKE A MAGNITUDE 5.4 EARTHQUAKE._ _”_

“But that certainly ain’t no earthquake Mike, I can tell you that much right now!!!! It’s the furnace boiler.........”

“ _Oh.......Dear........God.........All........Mighty..........” Mike muttered under his breath. “William, what do we do? Do we stick around and continue to fight this battle or do we seriously need to start making some tracks and get everyone the hell out of here?”_

“You guys need to hightail it the hell out of there......IMMEDIATELY!”

“ _Shit............Ten-four William, but where would be the safest place to go? We don’t have any tunnels nearby......and the only underpass is on the corner of Gerrard St E, Blackburn and St. Matthews Road.......where the Don Valley Parkway is.”_

“Then that is your safest bet Mike........if you don’t want to venture too far away from the scene, which I highly do not recommend.......I think that would be a wise decision!!!! The entire area is now fully evacuated and closed off, right? There should be nobody around but you guys.......just park your trucks right where they sit, hop out and quickly head underneath the underpass of Don Valley and just wait for the impact! Once all is clear, head back as soon as humanly possible! Meanwhile, Steals and I have got to get everyone inside the Moss Park Apartment lobby relocated to a safer area.......William, over and out and, stay safe boys!.........”

“ _Ten-Four William. Same can be said for you guys as well.......good luck! Mike, Over and out!”_

“Come on Serge, we’ve got to get everyone here relocated to a safer area......it’s much too dangerous to remain here within this lobby with all these windows surrounding us. Duncan, you wouldn’t happen to have a basement in this building, would you, or a room with no windows?”

“No....unfortunately we don’t have a basement here. The closest room we do have with no windows is the maintenance closet, but I’m not sure that’s big enough to fit everyone into it!”

“What about the laundry room, Duncan? That’s big enough and it doesn’t even have a window!” Sue suggested. “Come....follow me folks, this way! I got your oxygen tank, Louella......don’t worry. Bruce, you want to grab Joey’s basin and bring it with us?......Dan, Montgomery, you guys got Joey?”

“Yes Sue.....we got him.” affirmed Daniel Raditch as he turned to Joey. “Are you going to be alright walking down the hall towards the laundry room Joey?”

“I sure hope so, Mr. Raditch.” Joey moaned as he carefully began to take a few steps down the hall with the help of both Daniel and Montgomery.

“Daniel, he is so not looking good at all.....” Montgomery replied.

“I know......truthfully I’m starting to think these burns are chemical related after all! If you feel faint at any given moment Joey, please let us both know, alright?”

“God, why is all of this happening? What have we done to deserve this?” cried Heather as she and Erica held each other’s hand. “Haven’t we already gone through enough?!”

“Apparently not.......Degrassi’s clearly going down and she’s taking all of Degrassi Street and the surrounding areas along with her!” Snake declared.

“Snake, does Degrassi have to be a she?” Wheels questioned, trying to lighten up the mood.

“Would it be better if Degrassi were a he?”

“Well, I don’t know....... I never really thought of a school as a he or she.......I always thought it was a building and that’s it!”

* * *

 

On the corner of Gerrard Street East, St Matthews’ Road and Blackburn Street, all was quiet except for the crackling roar of the flames over on Degrassi Street along with the sound of idling fire truck engines as Mike and many other firefighters from various ladders, some within the city of Toronto while others came from out of town either stood or sat under the Don Valley Parkway overpass in wait.

“Damn, this is so creepy.......if that boiler is going to blow.....it better do so soon so we can get back there and continue our battle with this stubborn blaze! I thought we had it under control there for a bit.......” Mike uttered to no one in particular.

“So did we.........then things just suddenly took a turn for the worst and now here we all are waiting for a possible explosion......whoa......shit!” another fireman replied, nearly losing his balance as the rumbling got even more stronger and powerful throughout the ground. “I think it just went from a 5.4 to a 6.0 on the ole Richter Scale!”

“I got a feeling it won’t be much longer...........that boiler has got to be beyond boiling point by now.......probably buried the needle on the pressure gauge......that is, if it even still exists under all that heavy debris!”

“Yeah, it’s amazing those boilers are even still running! You figured the safety mechanism had kicked in and disabled them.”

“I got a feeling someone prior to this incident may have tampered with the system.......just like all the other fires we have been seeing around here as of late!!!”

 

Then suddenly........................

_**KABOOM!!!!!!** _

 

The black sky literally lit up in a sickening, bright orange glow, almost giving off the illusion of an early morning sunrise to the surrounding area as a massive fireball shot up, high above Degrassi Junior High School.

“HOLY SHIT!!!!” the firemen screamed in unison as they carefully watched the explosion unfold before their very eyes.

“Watch out for the shock-wave boys that’s soon to follow suit!!” Mike warned just as a massive blast of air passed over the Don Valley Parkway, knocking out hydro poles, tearing off tree branches and breaking any windows that had somehow managed to survive the first blast. “Good thing we’ve got this area completely evacuated. Oh, careful boys.....we’ve now got some debris raining down upon us.......”

“WOW..........never underestimate the power of a boiler! Those things are nothing more than a ticking time bomb when they malfunction.”

“ _William to Mike.....come in Mike!? William to Mike, do you hear me, over?”_

“Mike to William, hear you loud and clear. Over.”

“ _Is everyone alright?”_

“Yes, everyone is under Don Valley Parkway safe and accountable for. How are things over at Moss Park? I hear a fire alarm going off there in the background.......”

“ _Yeah, it went active as soon as the shock wave went through us, blowing out all the windows and knocking out power.......but everyone here is alright. We’ve relocated everyone into the laundry room, and it’s a good thing we did, too.”_

“Good thinking William! Is the superintendent with you?”

“ _Yes he is Mike.......why?”_

“You may want to get him to do a check-over of the building to make sure that alarm is indeed false and not actually warning you of some impending danger......that explosion was massive and who’s to say if something burning went flying in your direction.”

“Mike’s right.....I’d better go do a through check through of the building.” Duncan replied as he carefully got up off the floor and began making his way towards the laundry room door.

“Wait.....I’m coming with you, um.....um....what is your name, Sir?” asked Sergeant Steals as he rushed after Duncan.

“ _Alright, Superintendent Duncan and Sergeant Steals are heading out to do the check-over.”_

“Ten-Four William.....meanwhile we’re going to be heading back onto the scene. Things are now looking quite nasty over there since the explosion. You can literally see the flames shooting up from miles away and the heat......the heat is so intense right now, it’s got to be damaging surrounding properties! When we return, we’ll let you know when the coast is clear to send the paramedics over and get those kids straight to the hospital, alright? Just give us a few.......until then, Mike, over and out. Alright boys, let’s move out!!”

* * *

 

Back at Moss Park Apartments, everyone was a bit shook by the powerful blast but thankfully alright as everyone now tried to come to terms with what had just happened.

“Hard to believe that explosion was from the furnace boiler.......” Josh mumbled as he shook his head in disbelief. “There’s just no way anything in and around Degrassi Street could have survived that blast.....there’s simply no way.”

“I truly hate to go back there........I really, truly do....” replied Mary. “Who would have thought a boiler would be so capable of producing such raw power.....?”

“Everyone knows.......boilers become nothing more than..........ticking time bombs when.........nobody properly.........maintains them........” Louella Hawkins began as her body trembled from the frightening shock. “D-D-D-Degrass-s-s-s-i hasn’t had......a........a proper maintenance in.....in years! Th-the last time we had s-s-someone come in to insp-p-pect and main-maintain the b-b-boiler was w-way back in the summer of 1985. Who’s to s-say how many issues had developed over the years, plaguing and wearing the system down to this point of breaking! Oh, G-G-God my nerves are just shot right now.......”

“It’ll be alright Louella.....it’s all over now!” Scott reassured. “It’s all over now.......”

“I know.......and all of this is my fault!”

“What do you mean, ‘all of this is your fault’ Louella? You didn’t even do nothing! You’re not blaming yourself for this fire......are you?” asked Tammy.

Louella Hawkins looked each of her crew in the eye and slowly nodded her head yes.

“If only that part I had ordered over two years ago now had arrived when I wanted it too, I would have had those boilers fixed myself and we wouldn’t be having this tragedy to begin with!”

“Louella.........Louella Hawkins, NO! NO honey, don’t go blaming yourself for something that’s way out of your control.......” Doris Bell lamented as she got up off the floor and walked over to where Louella sat with her crew, sitting right between her and Sue and embraced her just as she began to break down into tears. “Oh God, Louella honey........you did your best sweetie and that’s all we could ask for......this has nothing to do with you, alright? Don’t go blaming yourself for something you had no part of.”

“ _Mike to William.....come in Marshal William.....Mike to William, do you hear me? Over. We have just arrived back on scene and Degrassi Street.......looks like a nuclear bomb went off around here........it’s just utter mayhem everywhere.......houses are either destroyed or seriously damaged and Degrassi Junior High School......is.........is no longer........it’s........it’s gone. Degrassi Junior High School is gone. It’s all gone!”_


	8. The Fire: Part Four, St. Michael's

_"_ _Mike to William...come in Marshal William. Mike to William, do you hear me? We have just arrived back on scene here at Degrassi Street and...and it seriously looks as though a nuclear bomb had just gone off! It's total, utter chaos everywhere you look. Houses are either destroyed or seriously damaged. And Degrassi Junior High School...is...it's...gone. Everything...the entire building...it's all...g-gone!"_

Upon hearing that announcement from Fire Fighter Mike through the CB Radio, the whole entire laundry room had gone completely silent as everyone slowly let the news and reality of the situation sink in.

"Damn it!" Josh and Scott both roared together after a while, suddenly breaking the silence as Tammy and Mary began to cry.

"Oh dear God...no" Karen Avery whispered under her breath as both hands flew up towards her mouth in shock while Bruce Lawrence struggled to fight back the tears that now threatened to fall from his eyes.

"This really truly is all of my fault..." Louella muttered to herself again as she choked back a sob. "None of this would have happened tonight if I had only kept a closer eye on those damn repair workers...Hell, none of this would be happening **PERIOD** if that part I ordered over two years ago had come in when it should have..."

"Louella sweetie...no. Like Doris said, don't you dare go blaming yourself for this..." replied Sue as she then embraced her friend. "You had nothing to do with this tragedy, you hear me? You had **NOTHING** to do with this!"

"Hear you loud and clear, Mike." replied William, now with a somber tone in his voice upon seeing and hearing everyone's reactions to the news. "But I think maybe you should have held off on making **that** particular announcement until after we had gotten everyone out towards the hospital, away from listening range..."

_“_ __I am so terribly sorry William. It’s just that I am in complete shock right now at the utter devastation these boilers have brought to this entire neighborhood. Further more, I think many of Degrassi’s staff, students and faculty needed to know the state of their now former building.....speaking of which, my deepest, sincerest......condolences to you all. I myself had attended Degrassi when I was younger....and.....and I know how much this building meant....it meant a lot to us all. It was like a second home.....I.....I truly feel your pain right now! It really pains me that we could not save this historic properly....”_ _

"William, if it's OK with you, may I say a few words to Mike, please?" asked Daniel Raditch.

"Certainly, just give me one second so I can let Mike know. Mike, Mr. Daniel Raditch here would like to say a few words, if you don't mind?"

__"Sure..."_ _

William then handed Daniel the CB radio. "Hold down this button here and talk into the mic...once you're done talking, release the button for the response."

"Thank you. Mike, this is Daniel Raditch speaking. I hope you can hear this...you and your crew did the very best you could and really, that's all we could ask of you. I think all of us knew from the very beginning of this tragedy that things would not end well...and that the building would be coming to it's tragic demise tonight. On behalf of all of us here at Degrassi Junior High School, we would like to thank each and every one of you from the bottom of our hearts...for everything."

__"You're welcome and thank you so very much for those kind words, Mr. Raditch. It's something we rarely get so truly..., to hear those words of thanks...that really means a lot."_ _

Once Daniel was done, he handed the CB radio back to William.

"Yes indeed, thank you for those kind words Daniel." William complimented with a smile.

"No problem William...after everything we had put you through with those annoying false alarms and then this happening...it's the least we could do to show a bit of gratitude."

__"William, just letting you know that the paramedics are now officially on their way! They've dispatched two ambulances for the critically injured victims as well as the Orion 2 Multi Patient Unit for the rest."_ _

"Ten-four Mike...as soon as we get everyone transported to the hospital, I'll then be making my way back towards the station to swap trucks since mine is now officially out of commission and then head on back over to St. Michael's where I'll probably be for the rest of the night filling out reports and documents in regards to this evening's events. Are you guys going to be alright without me?"

__"I think so William. Now that the threats of explosion are all said and done, it should hopefully be smooth sailing from here on out. It's now just the case of knocking down these ginormous flames and try to salvage what little properties are left standing here. Mike, over and out."_ _

"I wish you and everyone else there the best of luck. William, over and out. Alright folks, listen up! Now I know that you are all quite upset and in shock over the news of losing Degrassi Junior High School, but as you all heard from Mike, the paramedics are now on their way over here as we speak, so Joey, Louella? I need you both to step forward please? As for the rest of you...those who are in the Severe to Serious category, can you all please take a stand behind these two while the Moderate to Minorly injured, stand behind the Severe to Serious, OK? As soon as we get Joey and Louella packed up in their respective ambulances and taken towards St. Michael's, the rest of you will then be packed into the Orion 2 Patient Unit...it's like a mini school bus, but it's used for large medical emergencies instead. Now, keep in mind as we leave this laundry room, please be aware of your surroundings and watch where you are walking, alright? It's going to be a bit tricky to do so without any power, and having these annoying alarms going off doesn't make things any easier either, but I'm sure the hallways are littered with various debris and glass shards brought on by the blast we just experienced not to long ago. We certainly don't need to be adding anymore sudden injuries to our already long list, alright?! The paramedics shouldn't be too far from us now so let's all head on back out into the lobby area, follow me."

"William, if it's OK with you, I'd like to go along with Louella in the ambulance to the hospital. We're best friends and I want to be there for her." Sue implored as they carefully made their way back down the hall towards the lobby.

"I'm sure that won't be a problem, Ms. Jenkins. Just let the paramedics know that you'll be riding with them when they arrive. Now, as for the rest of you extras who are here...Bruce Lawrence as well as Josh and your fellow co-workers, is it?...the Orion 2 Patient Unit can only hold so many people...so..."

"Oh, um...we've got our own vehicles William. They're parked on the side, completely out of the way so that the emergency crews can come in here!" replied Josh. "I have my pick up truck and Bruce, you have your car, right?"

Bruce nodded in response. "That's correct Josh...now William, how many patients can the Orion 2 hold exactly?"

"The Orion 2 can only hold 33 patients which is the number of people we have here. So Bruce, will you be able to transport Doris Bell, Montgomery Garcia, Daniel Raditch and Karen Avery with you to the hospital?"

"Yes... I can most certainly do that!" declared Bruce as he then proceeded to pull out the keys to his car from his coat pocket.

"Alright, great! As soon as you get to the hospital, let whoever is on standby know that the people you have with you were on scene of the Degrassi Junior High School fire and they'll take you in as soon as possible!"

"And as for the rest of us..." added Josh as he pointed towards his crew."As soon as they get our boss Louella loaded up in the ambulance, we'll be following close behind in my pick up."

"OK, that sounds good Josh, but please just keep your distance, alright?" declared William. "Don't be following too closely..."

"Sure thing!"

Before long, the sound of sirens could be heard faintly in the distance as they rushed down Queen Street East towards their destination of Moss Park Apartments.

They quickly pulled into the dead-end Street of Seaton and came to a stop behind William's now disabled fire truck.

"Alright, the paramedics have arrived...so Joey, Louella, would you come with me please? The rest of you kids, stay here until I give the OK for you to come out." William ordered as he, Joey, Louella and Sue stepped outside and began making their way over towards where the paramedics were parked.

"We'd better be going too!" exclaimed Josh and he then motioned for his fellow co-workers to follow him out the door. "We'll see you at the hospital, Louella."

"Alright Josh...safe travels over there, OK?"

"We most certainly will...and one more thing...be brave girl!"

"Yeah...easily said then done!"

"Hey...I know you can do it, Hawkins!" added in Lou Robbins as he then walked over and placed a hand upon Louella's shoulder. "You're one tough cookie!"

"Thanks, Robbins!"

Lou then embraced his boss for a moment, slowly letting a few tears fall as he choked back a sob.

"I'll be alright, Lou. Promise! You better be going with the rest of the crew..."

"See you at the hospital Louella."

"Evening Marshal William, we're here to take a 15 year old male by the name of Joey Jeremiah to the hospital." announced one of the paramedics as he jumped out from the vehicle and proceeded to open the back doors, pulling out the stretcher for the patient to sit upon.

"Yes, and here he is...second degree burns to his hands, is now feeling a bit on the nauseous side. We believe these burns are chemical in nature, but the downside is we don't really know exactly what chemicals were actually in this fire."

"Alright. We'll definitely let the hospital staff know about that as soon as we arrive! Hello Joey, my name is Ronald Edwards and this here is my assistant, Pam Stohn. You've got nothing more to worry about, OK? As of right now, you're in very good hands. Just have a seat down on this stretcher here and relax. Pam and I will take care of the rest!"

"OK...hey, you guys got Rush playing in here?! I love this band!" exclaimed Joey as he carefully positioned himself onto the stretcher.

"Awesome! What's your favorite song from them, Joey?" asked Pam as they began to get Joey prepped for the trip.

"I love Fly By Night and this one that's playing right now, Force Ten. Do you guys know I've got my own band as well?..."

"You do? What's your band called, Joey?"

"We're called 'The Zit Remedy'!"

"The Zit Remedy, eh?"

"Yeah...we only have one song at the moment...I wish I had a copy of our demo tape with me to give to you guys!"

William chuckled as he then lead Sue and Louella over to their ride.

"Typical Goofball!" Louella muttered with a nervous laugh.

"Hey William! And you must be Louella Hawkins?"

"Yup, that's me. And this here is my best friend, Sue who also wants to come along with me, if that's alright?" replied Louella.

"We're best friends...I want to be with her for...support."

"That won't be a problem at all...Sue, if you like, just have a seat up there in the front of the ambulance while we get your friend here set up for the ride ahead, OK?"

"Alright, thanks"

"Now, as for you Ms. Hawkins, just get yourself comfortable upon this stretcher here. My name is Johnathan Richards and my assistant here is Joy Conner."

"Nice to meet you both...sorry it has to be under these certain circumstances."

"Hey, it's all a part of the job description, sweetie. Alright now, let's get these blankets on over you so that you don't freeze. It's a bit on the chilly side out here tonight, isn't it? Certainly doesn't feel like June weather, that's for sure! OK, how are we feeling Ms. Hawkins? Are you comfortable?" asked Joy.

"Yeah, I am."

"That's good...now we just need to get you and your oxygen tank strapped in safe and secure here for the ride down to St. Michael's Hospital which is only a few blocks away from here so it's not going to be that long of a trip...and as soon as we get you into the ambulance and take your vitals, we'll be good to go on our way, right Johnathan?"

"Right, Joy!" Johnathan replied as he then helped Joy lift the stretcher up off the ground and into the ambulance, ensuring it was safely locked into position.

Once everything was securely in place, Joy then hopped back into the ambulance with Louella while Johnathan closed the doors, making sure they were locked tight before heading back up towards the front.

"OK, as soon as Joy back there gets Louella's vitals, we'll be well on our way, alright Sue?"

"No problem at all, Johnathan is it?"

"Yes it is! I take it those folks in the pick up truck next to us are the rest of your crew?"

"Yeah, they're going to be following us once we leave. How are you doing back there, Louella?"

"I'm holding on, Sue...just having my blood pressure and oxygen levels taken right now...I don't mean to scare you hon, but my oxygen ain't looking so good."

"And neither is your blood pressure for that matter. Ms. Hawkins, do you recall exactly how long you were in the burning building for?"

"According to our Secretary, Doris Bell, I was in the building for a good twenty minutes and eighteen seconds."

"Twenty minutes? Whoa! Ms. Hawkins, how on earth are you even still alive right now? We need to get you to St. Michael's immediately!" Johnathan exclaimed as he proceeded to turn the lights and sirens on before shifting the vehicle into reverse. "Alright, hold on folks...there may be a few bumps here as we carefully try to back out onto Queen Street East again..."

"Oh no...they've got the lights and sirens on. This ain't looking so good guys!" Josh whispered as he watched Louella's ambulance back up from the rear view mirror before turning the ignition on.

"OK, Louella is now officially on her way to the hospital as we speak..." William muttered to himself as he too also watched her ambulance back up onto Queen Street, which was soon followed closely by Josh's pick up truck.

"We'll also be on our way shortly as well William, as soon as my assistant Pam gets Joey's vitals which is what she's doing right now..." replied Ronald.

"Great, thanks guys!"

"No problem-o! See you at the hospital."

Ronald then proceeded to close up the doors, making sure they were secured before heading up front into the driver's seat.

"Alright William, I am also now heading off towards the hospital with Dan, Karen, Montgomery and Doris as well. As soon as we get there, I'll for sure let the staff there know that these four were a part of the Degrassi Fire and are in need of a medical check up immediately! Now, do I just go into the emergency entrance as well, or do we take a different entrance?" asked Bruce.

"Even through we feel fine, Bruce." replied Doris. "I don't think we need to get checked out."

"Truthfully Ms. Bell, I personally think you do need to get checked out." replied William. "When I had first arrived on scene, all of you were standing a little too close for comfort to the building as it burned...taking in a lot of smoke that could possibly be toxic and potentially dangerous to your health, especially when we don't really know exactly what chemicals were in there at the time of the fire. Even through you technically don't feel ill, it would be in your best interest anyway to get checked out...just in case, alright? Bruce, when you arrive at St. Michael's via Shuter Street, there are two entrances...one is strictly for ambulances only which is the main entrance...beside that is another entrance simply for either vehicles or delivery...since I doubt there's going to be any sudden deliveries at this hour, just park in there and then walk towards the emergency doors, OK? Safe travels over there and I'll be seeing you shortly when I get to the hospital!"

"OK, thank you very much William. We'll see you later!"

As Bruce lead Doris, Dan, Karen and Montgomery carefully towards his vehicle, Joey's Ambulance finally pulled out back onto Queen Street and the Orion 2 Multi-Patient Unit pulled into it's place.

"OK now, as for the rest of you, let's get going! Severe to Seriously injured, sit up in the front, please."

"I am so not looking forward to this trip!" Lorraine Delacorte mumbled to Lucy Fernandez as they waited their turn to get on the bus. "I hate hospitals. Can't believe this is really happening."

"Yeah..." Lucy replied in return. "I only hope we don't have to have our blood taken when we get there. I seriously hate needles."

"Same here!"

"Alright, Moderate to Minor, you folks have a seat some where's in the back." William announced as he then got off the bus to allow the second half of Degrassi's fire victims to get on. "Now, just so you all know when you arrive at St. Michael's, the doctors and nurses will be doing a few tests...many of which will probably include a lot of blood work, OK? I couldn't help but overhear just now two of you say that you're not really looking forward to having blood work done, but as of right now, it is a major necessity. To our knowledge, there were a few potentially dangerous chemicals that were sitting next to the Boiler room door down in the basement, chemicals that we are unsure about cause nobody was properly informed as they should have been by law! We hope with these tests done, the doctors and nurses will be able to find out just what chemicals were used and then properly treat your injuries accordingly, alright? So everyone please, just remain calm and brave...and let the doctors and nurses do their thing...OK? I am going to be leaving you guys in the hands of Lewis Chapman here who's one of the best paramedics in the entire city of Toronto! You all be on your best behavior now! Lewis, I'm going to be heading on back towards the fire station to exchange trucks as you can clearly see, my truck is officially out of commission...all of the windows and lights no longer work for they have all been blown out by the first explosion and truthfully, I seriously cannot drive that in the dark. But as soon as I do so, I'll be making my way back over towards St. Michael's as quick as humanly possible, should any of the hospital staff ask for my presents!"

"Ten-four William. I guess we'll be seeing you shortly then!"

"Alright folks...safe travels!"

As soon as William got off the Orion 2, Lewis closed up the doors and then proceeded to back up out of the dead-end street of Seaton onto Queen Street East.

"Next stop, St. Michael's Hospital!"

William watched as the Orion 2 drove out of sight before heading on back towards his truck, but before he could hop into it, Sergeant Steals came out of the apartment building along with Superintendent Duncan.

"Holy crap...I almost forgot about you two. Anything to report Duncan?"

"Nope...all is clear except for some severe damage on the upper floors. I take it everyone has now been rushed to the nearest hospital as planned?"

"Yes Duncan...and I'll be heading there shortly myself as soon as I get back to the station and switch trucks. Um...before I go, what are you guys going to do with the tenants here? Obviously they cannot stay here with no power, severe damage to property and the alarms being active with no means of shutting them down."

"We're going to start issuing evacuations here shortly Marshal, as soon as we get confirmation from a nearby shelter located just a few blocks from here. Once we get that done, I'll try to stop by St. Michael's afterwards to see how things are going...if that's alright with you of course?"

"Yeah, of course Sergeant Steals! I'll see you then. And Duncan, I wish you and your tenants the best of luck."

"Thank you very much Marshal William. You too! Oh, and if you see Sue Jenkins...tell her I'll come by sometime in the morning...somewhere around 9:30, 10:00 to let her know where we'll be staying at and for how long."

"Will do, Duncan! See you later."

"See ya!"

As Sergeant Steals and Duncan walked back towards the apartment building to help escort the residents, William started up his fire truck...but before he could shift the gear into reverse,

"William, hold up...thought you might need this flash light? One of the residents found it in the lobby." Steals announced as he rushed back over towards the truck.

"Oh yes...I am definitely going to be needing this since I've got no headlights to properly and safely guide my way back through the dark! Thanks Steals!"

"No problem...safe travels back to Station 325."

With that said, William finally shift the truck into reverse and carefully began to pull out.

* * *

"Are we almost there?" Joey asked his paramedics as the ambulance slowed down a bit to make yet another turn onto Shuter Street.

"Actually Joey, we're already here!" Ronald replied as he turned off the sirens before carefully pulling into the Emergency Department of St. Michael's and parked beside the ambulance that had brought Louella in moments ago. "Thank goodness Johnathan left us some room here to park beside him!"

"What time is it, exactly? The last time I checked, it was just before we were ordered to evacuate which was around 9:43 PM."

"It's now close to Twelve Thirty in the morning, June 24th, 1989." confirmed Pam.

"What would have been commencement day...I finally graduate, and then this happens."

"I'm sure the School Board will reschedule it to a later date before Summertime ends, don't worry. Alright, let's get you out of this ambulance and inside the hospital where I'm sure it'll be nice and warm, OK? Hang on tight!"

As Pam and Ronald carefully rolled Joey's gurney out of the ambulance, a few doctors and nurses came out to assist.

"Another victim of the Degrassi Junior High Fire, I see! And just who do we have here?" One of the Doctors asked as he began to take notes on his clipboard.

"We have here a 15 year old male by the name of Joey Jeremiah. Second degree burns to his hands, chemical in nature however, we have no idea at this moment and time as to what chemicals were in the building at the time of the fire. Victim is feeling a bit nauseous, blood pressure is a bit on the low side at the moment...oxygen levels steady." Ronald disclosed as they entered the hospital and quickly headed on down the hallway.

"Alright, we can place him here in Room 23. OK Joey, since your hands are basically out of commission, Ronald, Pam and I will carefully transport you over from the gurney onto this bed, alright? On the count of three...one, two, three! There we go...now that wasn't so bad, was it? I'm Dr. David McKaye and we're going to deal with your injuries, alright? Dr. Stephen Owens, we're going to need to remove the patient's jacket and shirt."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa...guys, this suit didn't come cheap..." Joey protested as the doctor took a hold of his shirt and began to snip.

"I'm sorry Joey, but we simply cannot remove these clothes over your wounds, especially if your clothes are contaminated with chemical residue and smoke. The last thing you need right now is an infection. OK Ronald, before you and Pam head off out of here, you did make a mention that at this moment and time, we don't have any clues as to what chemicals were in the Degrassi fire, is that correct?"

"Yes, that is correct Dr. McKaye. I believe our work here is now done. You guys have a good night and Joey, all the best to you as well." Ronald announced as he and Pam took their stretcher and headed out.

"And Joey...good luck with your band...I hope to hear you guys someday on C-R-A-Z Radio! Maybe even attend one of your concerts!" Pam added.

Joey smiled.

"Thanks!"

"OK, we're going to have to draw some blood here and start getting some tests done to see just what we are actually dealing with before we start administering any treatments. Nurse Eleanor, could you get me five vials, two lavender and three red colored tops, an elastic band, alcohol swabs and a 21 gauge needle please? While the nurse goes and get those items, let's get you out of these pants Joey and into this gown...alright?"

* * *

"This is Closer Together by The Box, on C-R-A-Z Radio!"

"Hey, we just heard this song not too long ago at the dance...in fact it was the last song played before we got the news to evacuate!" exclaimed Lucy as the Orion 2 Multi-Patient Unit turned the corner onto Shuter Street from Church.

"And once again we won't be able to hear the end of it cause we have just arrived at the hospital." stated Erica.

"Alright folks...we have arrived at St. Michael's. Give me a moment so I can radio in to front desk. This is Lewis Chapman of the Orion 2 Multi-Patient Unit with the remaining victims of the Degrassi Junior High School Fire. I have 33 people on board...13 are in the serious/severely injured category while 20 are moderate/minorly."

__"Ten four Lewis. We're sending out a team of people to help escort the victims into the hospital now."_ _

"OK, those who are in the severe to serious category, please stand up and carefully begin to make your way off the bus...Doctors and Nurses are standing by to help if you need it. Just take it easy stepping out."

"See you in there Luce." replied Heather as she and Erica carefully made their way off the bus.

"Alright...good luck you guys." replied Lucy as she watched Heather and Erica leave with the rest of the kids.

"You too!"

Lucy and the other kids sat, watched and waited as the severe to serious ones were quickly escorted into the hospital's emergency department either by wheelchair or on stretchers, depending on how they felt.

At least nine of the kids were placed upon a stretcher while four were put in wheelchairs.

After a few minutes, it was then time for the moderate to minor victims to face the music as a few more doctors and nurses rushed out into the ambulance bay with wheelchairs.

"Alright now, as for the rest of you kids, carefully step off the bus into the arms of a waiting doctor or nurse and they'll take care of the rest! You're all in very good hands!"

* * *

Dundas Street was completely deserted as Fire Marshal William made his return to Fire Station 325.

"Marshal William to dispatch...Marshal William to dispatch, can you come out here please, ASAP?"

William radioed in as he pulled into the driveway and parked in front of the garage entrance.

"Ten-four William...be out shortly."

Turning off the ignition, he quickly took off his seat-belt and jumped out of the truck.

"Is everything alright, Marshal? OH MY GOSH, YOUR TRUCK...WHAT HAPPENED?"

"Unfortunately Florence, I've got no time to explain...what I need you to do for me is to clean out this truck and get someone over here to ship this now pile of useless metal off to the scrap yard, post haste! Make sure there are no documents or any other important information left behind before doing so. Meanwhile, I've got to get my butt over to St. Michael's Hospital...here are the keys to that truck by the way."

"So how are you going to get to St. Michael's then if you no longer have a vehicle?"

"By my Commander Truck...I just got to get the keys from my office. Excuse me."

"There were a few major explosions over on Degrassi Street...don't tell me you were involved with one of them?"

"Yeah, unfortunately we were involved...during the second explosion that was caused by the second boiler...we were on Broadview Ave when it happened! The first explosion was caused by a cylinder that was left down in the basement."  
"So then what caused that last MAJOR explosion that literally shook this entire area not to long ago?"

"The third explosion was caused by the furnace boiler...the first one. Turns out those boilers were still fully functional when we had arrived on scene. Thankfully we issued an evacuation and got everyone out of there when we did! Listen, I'd better be going, but make sure you check in with Mike every couple of hours, alright? And don't accept anymore incoming calls either! Station 325 is officially out of commission for many of our staff are at this moment battling an out of control boiler blaze over on Degrassi Street!"

"Alright William, I'll do that. Oh, and one more thing...whoever has been rushed to St. Michael's, I hope they are OK?"

"It's mostly all the staff and students that were attending the Degrassi Junior High Graduation Dance this evening...we have two in critical condition right now...a 15 year old boy with second degree chemical burns to his hands and the head custodian with severe smoke inhalation. Everyone else in attendance are either suffering from serious to minor injuries. I'll see you later, Florence!"

With that said, William started up his command truck and headed back out towards St. Michael's Hospital.

* * *

In the waiting room, Bruce Lawrence sat with his head in his hands, trying hard not to listen to the background noise of the television as reports of the Degrassi Junior High School Fire continued on throughout the night.

__"If you have just joined us here at City TV, we are still on the air believe it or not continuing our coverage of a tragic fire that has taken place in Toronto's Riverside neighborhood tonight, destroying what should have been a night of celebration and triumph for the students and staff of Degrassi Junior High School."_ _

"Mr. Lawrence?" a voice called from the door leading out into the hallway.

"Yes?" Bruce replied, quickly getting up from his seat to come face to face with a Nurse.

"You had come in with four of your staff members, Karen Avery, Daniel Raditch, Montgomery Garcia and Doris Bell, is that correct?"

"Yes I have...how are they? Are they alright?"

"I'm afraid we have some bad news...at least three of them are suffering from moderate smoke inhalation and are required admittance to the hospital. We're right now in the process of getting their treatment underway...one thankfully is not hurt and will be released shortly. Now, what about you? Were you also at the scene of the fire as well or..."

"No, thankfully I wasn't any-where's near Degrassi Junior High when the fire started...I had later on found out where everyone was relocated to after an evacuation was declared and caught up with them there. Since there was no more room on the Orion 2 Multi-Patient Unit, Fire Marshal William gave me the orders to bring them here via my own vehicle."

"OK then. That's not a problem...speaking of which, do you know where Marshal William is exactly?"

"He said he had to quickly return back to the station to switch trucks since the vehicle he had was in pretty rough shape. He should be here shortly though!"

"Alright then. Thank you so much, Mr. Lawrence! I shall report back to you should there be any sudden changes or updates."

"Thank you Nurse." Bruce stated as he somberly headed back to his seat and sat down.

__"Police are now on the lookout for two possible suspects in connection to the Degrassi Junior High School Fire, Dan Thurman and Marianne Corr, owners of Narbo Gas Boiler Repair Emergency Services. If you see either of these two people, immediately call the Metro Toronto Police."_ _

Upon hearing the names of those two individuals, Bruce couldn't help but growl.

"I hope those two get what's coming to them for what they have done to Degrassi!"

"I certainly hope so too!" another unrecognizable voice replied as Bruce once again turned around.

There, standing in the waiting room doorway this time was a man wearing a bright orange jumpsuit with the words "Boiler Repair" on the back with his arms folded across his chest.

"The name's Kevin...a now former employee of Narbo Gas Boiler Repair Emergency Services."

 


End file.
